On Translating Modern Korean Poetry Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation Series

On Translating Modern Korean Poetry is a research monograph exploring the intricacies and complexities of translating modern Korean poetry.

This monograph highlights the difficulties entailed in translating Korean poetry, due to the lexical, structural, social, expressive and attitudinal levels with which the translator must be engaged. Featuring all-new translations, this book explores the question of what exactly modern Korean poetry is, increases the representation of female poets and includes poems addressing modern historical events, globalization, diaspora and mental health. Each chapter provides commentary on both the original and translated texts and looks at some of the issues that arose during the translation process. By doing so the authors draw attention to the intricate, trans-cultural and trans-creational process of Korean poetry translation.

Collating contemporary Korean poetry and intricately exploring the translation process, this book is ideal for researchers and advanced level students of Korean Studies, Translation Studies and Literature with an interest in translation.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Jieun Kiaer

1. Baek Seok - Me, Natasha and the White Donkey

Jieun Kiaer

2. Choe Yongseok - Bulletproof Delivery Box

Anna Yates-Lu

3. Choi Jeongrye - Zebra Lines

Mattho Mandersloot

4. Choi Seung-ja - My Earlier Self

Mattho Mandersloot

5. Ha Jongoh - A Band and a Wild Dance

Anna Yates-Lu

6. Jin Eun-young - Stealing Song

Anna Yates-Lu

7. Kim Hyesoon - Land of Echoes

Mattho Mandersloot

8. Kim Ki-taek - Director Kim

Mattho Mandersloot

9. Kim Sijong – Summer

Jieun Kiaer

10. Kim Sowol – Spring

Jieun Kiaer

11. Kwon Soonja - Comfort Woman 12

Anna Yates-Lu

12. Lee Geunbae - Sunset Castle

Anna Yates-Lu

13. Lee Hae-in - The Taste of Potato

Anna Yates-Lu

14. Lee Jangwook - Throwing a Glass

Mattho Mandersloot

15. Lee Jeongnok - Chair

Jieun Kiaer

16. Lee Seong-bok - The Wait

Mattho Mandersloot

17. Na Hye-sok - Nora

Jieun Kiaer

18. Noh Cheonmyeong - April Song

Anna Yates-Lu

19. Oh Kyu-won - Fog

Mattho Mandersloot

20. Park Mog-weol - Wanderer

Jieun Kiaer

21. Yoo An-jin - Picking up Dabotap

Jieun Kiaer

Index

Jieun Kiaer is Associate Professor of Korean Language and Linguistics at the University of Oxford. She publishes widely on East Asian translation, with particular emphasis on Korean translation. Her publications include The Routledge Course in Korean Translation (2018) and Korean Literature through the Korean Wave with Anna Yates-Lu (2019). Kiaer is the series editor for Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation.

Anna Yates-Lu is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the Korean Music Department at Seoul National University. Her research focuses predominantly on the traditional Korean sung storytelling art form pansori, which she has analysed from a variety of different methodological approaches, and she teaches and performs the genre herself. She has been active in providing translations and subtitles for performances and films, most recently The Singer (Cho Jung-rae, 2020).

Mattho Mandersloot is a literary translator working from Korean into English and Dutch. He earned a BA in Classics from King’s College London, an MA in Translation from the School of Oriental and African Studies and an MSt in Korean Studies from the University of Oxford. Among others, he has translated bestselling authors Cho Nam-joo and Hwang Sun-mi. He has also led poetry translation workshops for the Poetry Translation Centre in London. In 2020 he won the Korea Times’ 51st Modern Korean Literature Translation Award for his translations of Choi Jeongrye’s poems.