The Feminization of Translation: Gender Politics in the Translation Controversy over Han, Kang's The Vegetarian

IF 0.2 Q4 WOMENS STUDIES Meridians-Feminism Race Transnationalism Pub Date : 2021-04-01 DOI:10.1215/15366936-8913188
Min Young Godley
{"title":"The Feminization of Translation: Gender Politics in the Translation Controversy over Han, Kang's The Vegetarian","authors":"Min Young Godley","doi":"10.1215/15366936-8913188","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The awarding of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize to Deborah Smith's English translation of The Vegetarian brought global recognition to emergent Korean literature, but domestically it has sparked outrage among numerous Korean scholars who believe the literal inaccuracies in Smith's translation have brought about a \"national disgrace.\" Situating this overheated reaction in the larger context of the colonial history of Korean nationalism, this article points out the irony that the \"noble cause\" of antiimperialist resistance has historically led to the silencing of women's voices in the context of preserving and transmitting an idea of quintessential Korean culture to an international audience. Such nationalist tendencies demand the \"feminization\" of the translator—requesting her to be barely visible while performing a self-effacing humility in deference to the putatively \"original\" culture. In contrast to this tendency, reading Han's original and Smith's translation together makes visible the damages that both colonization and nationalism have inflicted on the representation of female experiences. In the end, what truly scandalizes nationalist critics is not the failure of the translator to accurately convey Korean experiences, but the success of the translation in conveying an area of Korean experience they tend to neglect: that of female subjectivity.","PeriodicalId":54178,"journal":{"name":"Meridians-Feminism Race Transnationalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Meridians-Feminism Race Transnationalism","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1215/15366936-8913188","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"WOMENS STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract:The awarding of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize to Deborah Smith's English translation of The Vegetarian brought global recognition to emergent Korean literature, but domestically it has sparked outrage among numerous Korean scholars who believe the literal inaccuracies in Smith's translation have brought about a "national disgrace." Situating this overheated reaction in the larger context of the colonial history of Korean nationalism, this article points out the irony that the "noble cause" of antiimperialist resistance has historically led to the silencing of women's voices in the context of preserving and transmitting an idea of quintessential Korean culture to an international audience. Such nationalist tendencies demand the "feminization" of the translator—requesting her to be barely visible while performing a self-effacing humility in deference to the putatively "original" culture. In contrast to this tendency, reading Han's original and Smith's translation together makes visible the damages that both colonization and nationalism have inflicted on the representation of female experiences. In the end, what truly scandalizes nationalist critics is not the failure of the translator to accurately convey Korean experiences, but the success of the translation in conveying an area of Korean experience they tend to neglect: that of female subjectivity.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
翻译的女性化:韩、康《素食主义者》翻译争议中的性别政治
摘要:2016年布克国际奖授予黛博拉·史密斯的英文译本《素食主义者》,这为新兴的韩国文学带来了全球认可,但在国内,这引发了许多韩国学者的愤怒,他们认为史密斯译本中的文字不准确导致了“国家耻辱”。本文将这种过热的反应置于朝鲜民族主义殖民历史的更大背景下,指出具有讽刺意味的是“在历史上,反帝国主义的抵抗导致了女性在保留和向国际观众传递韩国文化精髓的背景下的声音被压制。这种民族主义倾向要求译者“女性化”——要求她在尊重公认的“原作”的同时表现出谦逊的谦逊“文化”。与这种倾向相反,将韩的原作和史密斯的译本放在一起阅读,可以看到殖民主义和民族主义对女性经历的表现所造成的损害。最终,真正让民族主义评论家感到震惊的不是译者未能准确地传达韩国的经历,而是翻译在传达方面的成功他们倾向于忽略韩国经验的一个领域:女性主体性。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
CiteScore
0.50
自引率
0.00%
发文量
24
期刊最新文献
Farm of Forgetting Between Skin and Stone Editor’s Introduction “We Are Orlando” Indigo
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1