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A Study on Rewriting in Translation of Literature: focused on the case study of Korean Translation of Eileen Chang’s Novels

Da young Sin 1

1이화여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Untranslatability of cultural elements and language is often thought to be the reason why translators ‘rewrite’ when they translate literature from different culture. It is indeed one of the main factor that cause rewriting in translation. However, if translators rewrite only when there's something untranslatable, the study on rewriting in the translation of literature will be somewhat predictable and obvious. What makes the descriptive study on rewriting more interesting and complex is the fact that translators rewrite, from time to time, even when there is no element untranslatable in the source text. Translators are bound to rewrite, unexceptionally, when they encounter untranslatable elements, utilizing various strategies such as footnoting, replacing and omitting, etc. Whereas, when rewriting in the context with no untranslatability, translators reveal more subjectivity and creativity. Thus, descriptive studies on rewriting in the context with no untranslatable elements may be an effective way to confirm translators’ subjectivity as well as the significance of Lefevere’s rewriting theory. This paper analyzes cases of rewriting in the context with no untranslatability, in the Korean translation of Eileen Chang’s Chinese novels, to describe the situation in which such rewritings occur.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.