James Scarth Gale(1863-1937) was a 19th-century missionary from Canada who had stayed in Korea for almost three decades and left enormous achievements not only in the mission field but also in the field of literature. He had left the English translate...
James Scarth Gale(1863-1937) was a 19th-century missionary from Canada who had stayed in Korea for almost three decades and left enormous achievements not only in the mission field but also in the field of literature. He had left the English translated version of classical Korean novel Unyŏng-jŏn, which was only recently been academically noticed. Although the necessity of studying Gale’s writings and translations had long been emphasized, there are still areas in which research is still only emerging. “The Sorrows of Oon-yung”, Gale’s English translated version of Unyŏng-jŏn is one of which.
Unyŏng-jŏn is one of the most noted 17th-century novel in the history of Korean Literature for its exceptional theme and expressional mode. The translation of this novel is included in a script titled ‘Old Corea’ which contains more than a dozen Korean scholars’ various writings including short notes and poems followed by Gale’s comments. Unyŏng-jŏn is positioned under the title of ‘Corea’s Typical Story’ which is the last chapter of the script. This chapter is composed simply by the sole novel, with no introduction or commentary note. However, it can be presumed that he had intentions on rewriting the History of Korean Literature that was debased by others who had introduced Korean Literature as a set of plain and uninteresting stories by the fact that he had chosen and thoroughly translated Unyŏng-jŏn, an exceptional story in the History of Korean Literature. Although the novel would be considered rather unique and exceptional than ‘typical’, Gale had intentionally placed the piece under the title of ‘Corea’s Typical Story’ in the last chapter of a book which writes of overall Korean Literature, customs and culture to create a positive or at least progressive idea of Korean novels.
In chapters III and IV, the background of his translation is analyzed the work was examined in depth by comparing with the original Hanmun version of the novel. First, it is concluded that the actual Hanmun script which Gale had translated from is not existing anymore or at least undiscovered yet. Although the content of Gale’s translation is quite similar to one of the scripts preserved in the National Library of Korea, there are some lines and words indicating evident differences. And there are particular points in Gale’s translation which show precise correspondence to some other scripts than the one of the NLK. There are more than thirty manuscripts discovered and yet not one could be considered as the exact piece Gale had acquired.
Unyŏng-jŏn is a framed story where a 17th-century scholar Yu Yŏng meets some people from the 15th century in his dream and the people, and Kim Chinsa, tell their stories to Yu Yŏng and the reader of the book. In the original version of the novel, the story of Yu Yŏng is written in third-person perspective whereas the story of Unyŏng and Kim Chinsa is written in first-person perspective. The narrative structure is credited to be unique and sensational for the time being. However, Gale had altered the structure and made Yu Yŏng to speak as a first-person narrator. This had resulted in eliminating the unique structural characteristics of the novel.
Likewise, there are some mistranslation leaded by his intention or sometimes by simple mistakes. In part three of chapter III, I have divided the cases of translation into three themes to further examine the details. Firstly, Gale showed strong preference for a meaning-for-meaning translation over a word-for-word translation. If a role of word in the novel is merely practical, he would replace it by English words even when it is native Korean noun. On the other hand, he would delicately translate the words which are rhetorically functioning. Secondly, it was found that the translation showed a reflection of Gale’s religious beliefs. Not only he had mistranslated ‘sky[天]’ or ‘parents[父母]’ into ‘God’ or ‘heaven’ but he would also not distinguish the difference between the words such as ‘Taoist god[玉皇]’, ‘god[神]’ or ‘spirit[鬼].’ He would translate these different words into ‘God’ which had resulted eliminating Korea’s cultural/religious thoughts. At some points, words or phrases with religious meanings are thoroughly translated especially when it is related to Buddhist beliefs. Lastly, the translation of poems in the novel showed a exquisite skills. Some parts were found mistranslated but the overall poem translation showed great details and thoughtful consideration of choosing words.
In chapter IV, Gale’s intentions and aim of translation is examined. The translator is the first reader of the novel and his understanding would interfere the way of translation. Translators would basically aim on influencing the readers and because of that, the translated novel would be given a new color. First of all, Gale had emphasize the speech of Unyŏng. He would make her speak more directly and concretely than the original novel. It had resulted her to become a different character and play a different role. Gale also understood Prince’s aim and his relationship with other characters so that he would explain these in more details in the translation. He would also emphasize the love triangle of Unyŏng, Kim and the Prince by adding a word complimenting the Prince’s appearance and using direct word such as ‘love.’
This study has investigated Gale’s English translated version of classical Korean novel Unyŏng-jŏn. His translation style was discussed and the details of each cases were examined. This study has also paid special attention to the translator’s aim in re-writing the story. Although the novel would be considered rather unique and exceptional story in Korea, Gale had intentions on making it to be seen as a ‘typical’ story. He would also emphasize particular theme and motifs in the novel as well by using more direct and concrete word and eliminating some words in the translation.