Translating Cultural Subtext in Modern Korean Fiction :: Free Essays Online

Translating Cultural Subtext in redbrick Korean Fiction Translation as an Act of Bridging Two Cultures literary translation hatful be described in many ways. In the first place we can have in mind of it as retelling, in that we consequence a Korean tale and tell it in English. In retelling the story we make it public. This means we have an audience, either readers of our translation or listeners of a public reading of that translation. Public readings are an important way of disseminating a translation. And in the case of Korea, readings have a special relevance. In premodern generation improvised poems were oftentimes shared during gatherings of literati. Even today poetry readings are not uncommon in Korea (though readings of fiction are rare--a vestige of the greater esteem traditionally attached to poetry by Koreans?). Retelling is an especially ingenious approach to translation when we trans new-fashioned an seed such as Pak Wan-s, whose narrators often sound as if they are speaking directly to the reader. Second, we can think of translating as an act of re-creating, in the sense that translators produce something that is recognized as literature (whatever that is--anyone who has read the first chapter of Terry Eagletons Literary scheme will realize how difficult it is to precisely define literature). Translation can also be thought of as reenacting. Here I start out on the Lacanian notion of retrieving a lost narrative of our life. Translators may be thought of as taking part as a tacit observer, or, to borrow the title of a Joseph Conrad story, as a secret sharer, in the stories they reenact. Finally, translation is a joint enterprise between translator and author. As such, it is desirable to have a good match between author and translator. Such a match often manifests itself as a affinity of aesthetic outlook and a shared commitment to the authors works. In this joint enterprise the translator is a kind of medi um. JaHyun Kim Haboush reports, for example, that the role of Lady Hong rang in her head for years as she translated that princesss memoirs, the Hanjungnok. different translators have described this phenomenon as a merging of themselves with the persona of their author. The late Marshall R. Pihl reported having such an experience while translating stories by O Yng-su I myself have had a similar experience in translating stories by Hwang Sun-wn and O Chng-hi.