The main complex of Yeobaek House of Books in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo

YEOJU, Gyeonggi Province — Chon Young-ae had been up writing since 4: 20 a.m. The professor emeritus at Seoul National University (SNU) is in the process of selecting and translating into Korean the entire works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The author of over 60 books has just finished a draft for a book on the gardens of Yeobaek House of Books and two Goethe houses.

By 11 a.m., the 73-year-old had given a lecture on Goethe's botanics at the Young Goethe House, one of the main Western-style structures resembling the house in Germany where Goethe had lived before going out into the world. The students afterwards turned into volunteers who shared lunch before heading out to help weed the garden in front of it.

Things are communal at Yeobaek House of Books and at the Goethe Houses.

The communality of Yeobaek House did not stop during the COVID-19 pandemic days. "I opened Yeobaek House for professional artists, as well as for student musicians who did not have access to stages during that time," Chon said.

Communality befits the renowned scholar in German literature, who won the Goethe Gold Medal from the Weimar Goethe Society. She opened Yeobaek House in 2014, and since then has added on the two Goethe Houses, with a bold aim to build a Goethe Village.

"It's too much land for me to live and enjoy by myself. I wanted to share with people," she said.

The Young Goethe House and the Garden House are Western-style edifices that mark the start of a Goethe Village she wants to build. A garden was the core concept of the village. The rectangular communal garden stretches in front of the Young Goethe House. She explained the design of the garden as a long rectangle holding four square plots within and allotting small spaces for visitors and volunteers to plant flowers of their choice. It was to allow for the experience of an exquisite garden but with common ownership that merges with nature. Her enthusiastic volunteers once ran a crowdfunding event to plant daffodils.

"Beautiful alone, and more beautiful together," she said

In these days of monsoon-season summer, the flowers are also struggling with heat, but some managed to thrive.

Chon Young-ae, professor emeritus of Seoul National University and head of Yeobaek House of Books, poses with supporters in front of the Young Goethe House that opened late 2023. Courtesy of Chon Young-ae

"Look at those white hydrangeas. Why you could walk down along there," Chon said.

The aim of the Goethe Village project is to be more approachable and open to the public, in particular the youth. "I want to convey through Goethe's works in various fields of not only literature how his strong will grew him, and we that our youth can do it too," Chon said, speaking to The Korea Times in the Young Goethe House edifice. The Young Goethe House is open every Monday to the public.

The village project however has run into a roadblock, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The construction of the main Goethe House has stopped.

"After the pandemic, the cost of construction has gone up, so I cannot build it (now)," she said, adding that she still has hope. "It's been put on hold, (not stopped,) I am hoping," she said. Over the past decade, she said so many fairy tales have been created with likeminded people helping her to expand Yeobaek House.

A room inside Young Goethe House in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo

Some of the standout quotes are exhibited through the house including "Desire is the presentment of our inner abilities and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments." This combination of hope and tenacity reflects her life and career. She only translated "Faust" into Korean 40 years after first reading it. Currently, she is working on selecting from Goethe's works that would resonate more with a Korean audience and translate into some 20 volumes. "In China, there are 120 working and translating on such project."

It would be an understatement to say how her initial desire in 2004 to have a room "the size of a dog house with no room to lie down" has blossomed. Having purchased an unregistered small house then, she was afraid to lose it. She set into action to buy the land where Yeobaek Academy exists now, commuting to work at SNU from Yeoju before opening the academy in 2014. She used all her savings, and took out a loan. Her father chipped in 100 million won, so that Yeobaek Academy is now what it is.

Yeobaek House and the Goethe Houses are separated by land and houses belonging to others, as rules of private ownership dictate. But the overall experience of walking between both sites eventually leads to tolerate and even see them as part of the Yeobaek and Goethe sites.

Chon Young-ae, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, inside of Yeobaek House of Books / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo

The Korean-style hanok academy, often called Yeobaek Seowon after a type of ancient Confucian institute, comes across as a love letter to her parents and their traditions. Yeobaek is a pen name for her late father. Inside the main complex, she has writings of her father who translated into Korean with a brush a collection of her great-grandfather's works. The great-grandfather had headed Sosu Seowon and Dosan Seowon, both of which are now registered on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Hand-copied versions of Korean traditional songs and literature by her mother are still preserved by Chon. In the main complex, a class is held on "Faust" twice a month.

"I want to stress by preserving their writings and copied writings into books that we have thrown away too many things. The academy is for us to see what we have discarded, a space to visit ourselves as well as oneself," Chon said. "In this world where everything is whirring so fast, I wanted people to come and exhale, take a breather and readjust their jacket collars before they return to work. That is just about the utopia we can create. For those who cannot come, the thought that there is such a space will help them."

In the back garden, she created a botanical space with trees rescued from SNU's campus and streets, and flowers she transplanted from one site to another. While there were pockets of concentrated flower/plant congregations, the idea was to let the garden slide ceaselessly into nature, as Chon said and fellow journalist Kim Sun-mi wrote in her book "Comfort from the Garden."

A glimpse of "sijeong" in the back garden of Yeobaek House of Books on July 16 / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo

Summer heat has rendered the small back garden of Yeobaek House into an inviting lump of greens, similar to a verdant tropical forest. The academy actually has actually four Korean-style structures — the main complex, a gallery for artists, "sijeong" (a small pavilion dedicated to poetry) and a pavilion for foreign visitors. A path leads from the sijeong to the pavilion. Along the uphill path toward an observatory, stones etched with favorite Goethe quotes stand buried.

Goethe's promenade, which leads up to the Goethe Pavilion at Yeobaek Academy in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo

Chon is the only official resident and worker at the academy and the houses. She calls herself "seven slaves rolled into one."

On her dedication to Goethe, she said: "He was always striving, until just before his death. His curiosity was alive and he combined curiosity with tenacity," Chon said.

On her many roles as a scholar, the keeper of Yeobaek Academy and Goethe Houses, as well as a grandmother, when asked what she would cite as her essence, Chon quietly said, "A poet."