2023, Vol.24, No.4

The Journal of Translation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.49

pISSN : 1229-795X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/kats

Korean female translators in the colonial period have received relatively little scholarly attention compared to their male counterparts in the field of Korean literary translation studies. Hence, this study aims to spotlight Kim Myŏng-sun, a woman writer who was the first to have translated Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry and novella into the Korean language. Focusing on her 1922 translation of Poe’s The Assignation, retitled as “Sangbong”, this study reflects on Kim Myŏng-sun’s choice of this particular work and her translation approach, especially in relation to her literary perspective. This paper reveals that Kim Myŏng-sun’s decision to translate The Assignation was influenced not only by her admiration for Poe but also because the novella resonated with her own thematic focus as a novelist. These themes include the pursuit of romantic love outside the traditional marriage system, resistance to loveless marriage, negation of maternal affection, and an inevitable tragic ending. The interventions foregrounding such themes are also noteworthy. For example, a poem was slightly changed to accentuate the young male character’s dream of meeting his lover posthumously; the image of the husband as an old womanizer was reinforced; original expressions of maternal love were deleted; and death was described impressively, with expressions added to the translation. This shows that translation was an extension of her literary acts as a writer, calling due attention to neglected female translators in the early modern history of Korea.

This paper explores the intricate translation of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko into Korean, placing a special emphasis on the rhetorical situation encompassing the translation process. It argues that translating Pachinko extends beyond mere linguistic conversion, involving a deep engagement with the themes of diasporic writing, notably cultural identity and migration, which play a pivotal role in shaping translation strategies. This study highlights how translation transcends linguistic tasks and becomes integral to narrating the diasporic experience in a multi-ethnic and multicultural context. With a rhetorical framework, the research scrutinizes the strategies of domestication and foreignization in translation, focusing on the critical need for translators to comprehensively understand the exigence, audience, and constraints inherent in the translation process. The paper stresses the importance of an in-depth understanding of both the source material’s cultural context and the target audience’s cultural landscape. It explores how this understanding influences the choice of translation strategies, ensuring that the diasporic narratives within Pachinko resonate meaningfully and appropriately with Korean readers. This approach underscores the significance of the rhetorical situation in translation, demonstrating how it effectively guides translators in bridging cultural narratives between the source and target cultures.

This study was carried out as part of the systematic and critical review on the channels through which Western translation theories were introduced and accepted in South Korea, and the roles the theories played in the nation’s 25-year history of translation studies. To this end, this study investigated the transfer and reception of a leading Western translation scholar, Lawrence Venuti’s translation theory in Korea. This research compiled and analyzed the previous studies on and translations of Venuti’s theories based on: 1) the hermeneutic model of transfer presented by a sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, 2) the literary transfer model of a translation scholar, Antoine Berman, 3) literature review. The analysis sheds light on the patterns of transfer and reception of Venuti's translation theories in the nation, and then looks into the refractions and transformations observed in the translated title of Venuti's book and in the application of the two translation strategies he proposed, domestication and foreignization.