신경숙의 Please Look After Mom의 영어 서평에 나타난 문학번역 평가의 관점

Abstract

The purpose of literary translation is to recreate the aesthetic effects and satisfaction of the source text into the target language, so that a new kind of reader of different languages could share the similar emotional satisfaction with the readers of the source language. This makes the literary translation complete. However, unlike in the case of literary texts, public or critical attention is rarely given to the importance of the evaluation of literary translation due to the hegemony of authorship which prevents translators from being identified and aligned with the literary text itself. Throughout the history literary translators appear to have been doomed to fall into oblivion under the pretext of 'invisible', 'clear', or 'clean' translation. While independent and regular attention to the evaluation of literary translation seems implausible, an in-depth and careful analysis of 'book reviews' of translated literary works could cast a light on the possibility of the rediscovery of the values of translation. By analyzing the book reviews of the translated works from the perspective of translation and comparing these critical reviews with those of the original works, the ground for translation evaluation can be set up to the degree of how much these two different groups of critical perspectives share similar discoveries of the same work in different languages. The comparison of the reviews of Shin Kyung-sook's Korean novel with the reviews of the translated work, published in American news media, discovers the wide range of the similar critical perspectives toward the novel from the both groups in terms of the theme, style, structure, and other relevant literary elements, and despite rare comments on translation in the book reviews of American news media. this confirms the validity of the accomplished English translation done by Kim Ji-young, which is characterized by fluency and acceptability along with the invisibility of the translator. While the translator has chosen to disappear into the text in the name of fluency and naturalness, the 'invisibility' of the translator has rather brought back readers and critics to the attention of the translator.