The “comfort women” issue is one of the most contentious and emotionally charged disputes between South Korea and Japan. Its political sensitivity is so acute that it has often been treated as a taboo subject, even within the field of Korean literature. In this study, I analyze the English translation of Han myŏng (One Left), the 2016 Korean novel devoted to the subject of comfort women by Kim Sum (Kim Soom). This work is unique in that it is based on testimonies from surviving comfort women and contains over 300 endnotes citing the sources of the testimonies. My analysis explores how the translation captures the experiences and memories of the victims. Specifically, I focus on eight key aspects: (1) the creation of a temporary shift in the narrator’s voice, (2) the complexities of thought representation, (3) the use of different spelling, (4) how the translation conveys expressive meaning, (5) the adoption of the generic “you,” (6) the metaphor of comfort women as consumables, (7) the clarification of cultural subtext for the reader, and (8) the endnotes. Following this analysis, I examine the omission of an episode from the translation—an authorial choice that could be misinterpreted as an unfaithful rendering of the original. My analysis suggests that the narrative surrounding comfort women can be expanded and refined through translation.
목차
Abstract Introduction Kim Sum and Han myŏng The English Translation and Its Paratexts (In)Direct Textual Representation of Comfort Women in the Translation Creating a Temporary Shift in the Narrator’s Voice Unpacking the Complex Meanings of Thought Representation The Use of Different Spelling Clarifying Expressive Meaning Using the Generic “You” to Get the Reader More Involved Metaphorizing the View of Comfort Women as Consumables Making Cultural Subtext Clearer to the Reader Clarifying the Endnotes Omissions in the English Translation Concluding Remarks References
키워드
Han myŏngtestimonial novelcomfort womensexual violencetranslation strategies
저자
Sang-Bin LEE [ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies ]
한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.