1887
Volume 35, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0924-1884
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9986
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Abstract

Abstract

This article examines the controversy over (Han 2015), Deborah Smith’s English translation of Han Kang’s Korean novel, (2007). The translation, winner of the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, provoked a heated discussion in South Korea. A close analysis of three influential articles – Cho (2017)B. Kim (2017), and W. Kim (2018) – shows how the debates on the supposed mistranslation of are dominated by a preoccupation with fidelity and literal translation. They dismiss the translator’s interpretation or transformation, regarding accuracy or fidelity as the sole criterion for a good translation. Significantly, the critics’ advocacy of literal translation, and hence their objections to , reflect three levels of political anxiety: over ‘superior’ translation, over ‘English’ translation, and over a female translator’s ‘feminist’ translation.

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2022-12-06
2024-12-11
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