Castles of Pearls, Cuts in the Intestines: Preliminary Observations on Metaphors of Emotions in Korean Kinyǒ Poetry

This article is part of a broader research project on «Emotions and States of Minds in East Asia, through Textual Analysis», led and coordinated by Prof. Paolo Santangelo of Naples University «L’Orientale». The final product of this project will appear in an Encyclopedia of Emotions and States of Minds. The article has been presented in a slightly modified form during an International Conference on «Perceptions of Bodily Sensations and Emotions in South and East Asian Cultures», held at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice on 27-28 May, 2004. The poems included in this article are part of a sijo (short poems in vernacular Korean) and hansi (poetry in Classical Chinese) anthology of kisaeng’s poetry entitled Canti dal padiglione azzurro (Songs from the Blue Pavillion, Armando Caramanica Editore, 2005) compiled, annotated and translated into Italian by the author.