“Life sometimes brings us surprising things we never imagined.”

From the sea and sun, the hospitality and kindness of Naples
The dazzling blue courage of life

Author Dae-geon Jeong, who has garnered readers' attention with novels such as "GV Villain Go Tae-kyung" and "Rapid Stream," has published his first prose collection, "My Blue, Naples," as the first book in the new essay series "Author's Work Journey" presented by Anon Books.
The author stays in Naples and makes unexpected connections and experiences.
The writer, who is “not a person who likes new attempts or adventures” and often doubts his own achievements in both film and literature, changes dramatically due to the uniqueness of the nature and people of Naples.
I feel wonder and generosity in the sun and sea, and kindness and hospitality in friendly people.
The courage gained from it leads the lives of those who read and write to greener pages.

* The 'Writer's Work Journey' series conveys the loneliness and intense sense of a writer standing in an unfamiliar place.
The writer's journey will be a text created through steps.
We invite readers to join us on this journey.

As I grew to love Naples, I started reading Elena Ferrante's novel, My Brilliant Friend, which is famous for the Neapolitan Quartet.
At the same time, I also watched a drama that was adapted from the novel.
Even though it's set in Naples in the 1950s, why are there so many gray and violent scenes from the beginning to the end?
Worries began to creep up on me again.
I went into a famous European travel cafe and searched for 'Naples' and found a post complaining about someone who had just had their phone stolen and was wondering what to do.
Anyway, I finally bought a plane ticket.
All of them are flights arriving at 11pm… … .
I waited for the 90 days in Naples with half worry and half excitement.

--- p.16

He said the sentence, 'They say a film director is the captain of a ship, but I'm not that type of person.'
“Movie director is captain, but I’m not a captain guy.”

After speaking out loud in that foreign language, I felt like something was becoming clearer.
I've never said anything so definitive before.
In Korea, I never even said that I had 'failed' in film.
Since the director himself calls his own work a failure, the film is not just an individual's work.
There are staff members who have worked hard through wind, rain, and dust, and actors who have left their mark on the film for their entire lives.
But strangely enough, in English, the word didn't really come across.
As I said that to myself, I felt like a chapter in my life had come to a clean close.

--- pp.37~38

One day, I woke up at 5 a.m. before dawn and walked alone up a dark alley to the observatory.
It was something I would never have thought of if I hadn't been living in Naples for nearly two months.
I arrived at the observatory at dawn and watched the sleeping city awaken.
Now I knew the names of every corner of Naples, and Naples was no longer a fearful, unknown city to me.
--- p.93

Wherever I looked, the Val d'Orcia plains were postcard-like, a landscape I truly wanted to see with my loved one.
At the same time, it was a fatal sight because it was so beautiful.
I would like to name this overwhelming landscape the 'landscape of truth.'
Imagine the following scene:
The moment a couple goes sunset sailing in the sea of ​​Boracay and sees the world turn red.
Or the moment you encounter a snow-covered landscape in an open-air hot spring deep in the mountains of Japan.
It's usually a scene that makes you say, "We can't help but get married and spend the rest of our lives together seeing such an unforgettable and beautiful scenery."
But after enjoying the overwhelming scenery together, there is a scene where he says, “I don’t love you.”

--- p.137

Let's go, don't give up.

I felt optimistic that there would be a reward at the end of this journey.
No, even if the weather was bad until the end, I had faith that I would gain something rather than going back like this.
I was surprised by the optimism I felt at that moment.
How difficult it is for a person to change the inertia of their attitude.
It was thanks to the good feeling engraved in my body from yesterday's experience, when the worst day ended with an unexpected and surprising happiness.
I started walking on the path of God, where I couldn't even see ahead.
--- p.153

The lights of this city now have a special meaning to me.
I could point with my finger.
There was Anna's secret garden where I stayed for three months, there was the Brow Library where I stamped my attendance card every day, and there were students from the Naples Oriental University that I had come to know living here and there in the city, and there were delicious restaurants.
I was so excited.
Now it was time to say goodbye.


Firecrackers were being set off all over the city.
Fireworks continued for over a month to celebrate Napoli's third title in 33 years.

--- p.174