[One Thousand Characters a Day] Suji Krips Conveys the 'Joy of Walking'

Editor's Note“The Joy of Walking,” planned by the British publisher Macmillan, is a collection of writings on the theme of ‘walking’ by literary figures active from the mid-17th century to the early 20th century, including Jane Austen, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens, Emily Bront?, Mark Twain, George Eliot, E. M. Forster, and Virginia Woolf. The book contains reflections and emotional passages written on the road by thirty-four world-renowned authors in poetry, essays, and novels. There are poets who stroll through the countryside becoming one with nature, philosophers who delve deep into their inner selves through contemplation, and artists who use walking as nourishment for their creative work. For some, walking was a romantic act; in other writings, it became a forbidden act or a means of survival. As you read the book, you will leisurely stroll at the pace of thought through today’s fast-moving world and discover how to walk through life at your own pace. Word count: 1038.

Separating walking from humans is essentially giving up a large part of most people’s lives. This is because most people are always walking somewhere for some reason.

For some, walking is a panacea. Recently, a friend shared with me a conversation they had with their mother on messenger. After sending a long message lamenting their situation, they received a useful reply in just one line: “Take a banana and go for a walk.” But walking means more than just a remedy. Beyond its practical function of taking us where we want to go, walking also serves as a way to spend time. Like life itself, walking has a beginning and an end, and a purpose. We choose to walk to maintain our health. There are quite a few people who obsessively walk excessively from dawn till dusk. Sometimes people walk to the corner store to buy something, but some walk several kilometers daily for survival. Now you might sigh and say, “Yes, okay, it’s undeniable that we spend a lot of time walking in life. But is ‘walking’ really such an interesting topic?”

Walking, the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other, has inspired artistic expression throughout human evolution. The theme of walking has subtly appeared as a means of healing pain since the early days of English literature. In the medieval English poem The Wanderer, the protagonist wanders in sorrow, reflecting on his pain. In medieval English literature dealing with pilgrimage, the physical act of pilgrimage is accompanied by spiritual healing. This form, which began in medieval English literature, has continued as a kind of sub-genre linking nature and walking, as seen in Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain (1977) and Robert Macfarlane’s Old Ways (2012). Paying attention to walking is ultimately paying attention to life, and in today’s terms, it is an activity worth investing time in. However, I hope this book elevates the expectation of such ‘return on investment’ to a higher level or helps readers forget such expectations altogether.

- The Joy of Walking, edited by Suzy Cripps, translated by Yoon Gyo-chan and Jo Aeri, Influential, 16,800 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.