Visegrad Group publishes collection theatrical plays

"Between Loneliness and Intimacy"

By Kim Se-jeong

The Embassies of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia jointly released a book, "Between Loneliness and Intimacy," a collection of four contemporary plays translated into Korean, last week.

The four Central European countries are often referred to as the Visegrad Group.

"It's the first such project. I am very pleased that we can show that there's a great future for translating literature of quite minor European languages into Korean," said Jaroslave Olsa Jr., the Czech ambassador to Korea, during a book launching event at the Czech Center in Seoul, June 20.

All four countries were represented at the opening — Ambassador of Poland Krzysztof Majka; Ambassador of Slovakia Dusan Bella; and Annamaria Batari, the secretary to the Hungarian ambassador attended.

All four translators were also invited, and read excerpts from each play.

The list of plays include "Z Prachu Havezd" (From Stardust) by Czech writer Lenka Lagronova; "Burmistrz" (The Mayor) by Poland's Malgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk; "Babyboom" by Slovak Zuzane Ferenczova; and "Banyavirag" (Mine Flowers) by Szekely Csaba. The 400-page book contains a Korean translation of each play and the original versions written in the four native languages.

The project was one year in the making, spearheaded by the Visegrad Fund. Theater institutes from all four countries participated in selecting the plays; and Hankook University of Foreign Studies Press printed the collection.

The publication was originally scheduled for last October in connection with the Performing Arts Central Europe, a small-scale festival which was due to take place in Seoul, but was postponed.

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