The recent editorial about Hang Kang's Man Booker Award was not at all the kind of writing we expect to find in The Korea Times and several of us who are translators of Korean literature are very unhappy about it.
We feel that it displayed an insulting, patronizing attitude toward Han Kang, calling her widely admired and critically acclaimed novel "this otherwise bizarre and obscure novel" and also to her translator, exclaiming that "amazingly Smith didn't learn Korean until seven years ago," as though that is not long enough for anyone studying full time and gifted as she is to master a language. The ever-growing and devoted community of translators in general did not consider themselves adequately recognized in "governmental and private efforts have failed to incite linguistically talented foreigners or Koreans to work at translating Korean literature into other languages, making careers out of it," although it is certainly true that nobody can hope to earn a living by doing nothing but translate Korean fiction and poetry.
The writer failed to realize that a whole new generation of translators has now come of age and begun to publish, and that Korean literature is increasingly well-represented and admired on the international literary scene, in a great variety of languages.
We would like the writer to better understand the values of contemporary world literature. In addition, it is certainly more than time that Koreans understood that "winning" the Nobel Prize is not a significant goal for a writer or a translator.
The Nobel Prize is not an Olympic gold medal and does not reflect international critical opinion, being the preserve of the Swedish Academy, a largely unqualified body. I wish the author of the editorial had read some other newspapers' in-depth coverage before writing, the better to appreciate the universal acclaim Han Kang and Deborah Smith have received.
Brother Anthony
Judge in The Korea Times
Modern Korean Literature
Translation Awards
We feel that it displayed an insulting, patronizing attitude toward Han Kang, calling her widely admired and critically acclaimed novel "this otherwise bizarre and obscure novel" and also to her translator, exclaiming that "amazingly Smith didn't learn Korean until seven years ago," as though that is not long enough for anyone studying full time and gifted as she is to master a language. The ever-growing and devoted community of translators in general did not consider themselves adequately recognized in "governmental and private efforts have failed to incite linguistically talented foreigners or Koreans to work at translating Korean literature into other languages, making careers out of it," although it is certainly true that nobody can hope to earn a living by doing nothing but translate Korean fiction and poetry.
The writer failed to realize that a whole new generation of translators has now come of age and begun to publish, and that Korean literature is increasingly well-represented and admired on the international literary scene, in a great variety of languages.
We would like the writer to better understand the values of contemporary world literature. In addition, it is certainly more than time that Koreans understood that "winning" the Nobel Prize is not a significant goal for a writer or a translator.
The Nobel Prize is not an Olympic gold medal and does not reflect international critical opinion, being the preserve of the Swedish Academy, a largely unqualified body. I wish the author of the editorial had read some other newspapers' in-depth coverage before writing, the better to appreciate the universal acclaim Han Kang and Deborah Smith have received.
Brother Anthony
Judge in The Korea Times
Modern Korean Literature
Translation Awards
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