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Article published In: Target
Vol. 35:2 (2023) ► pp.242–261

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Fidelity or infidelity?

The mistranslation controversy over The Vegetarian

 | Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Published online: 6 December 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.21001.yoo
Abstract
This article examines the controversy over The Vegetarian (. 2015. The Vegetarian [orig. 채식주의자]. Translated by Deborah Smith. London: Portobello Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Deborah Smith’s English translation of Han Kang’s Korean novel, 채식주의자 Chaesikjuuija (2007). The translation, winner of the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, provoked a heated discussion in South Korea. A close analysis of three influential articles – Cho, Jae Ryong. 2017. “번역은 무엇으로 사는가 [By what means does a translation win?]” 문학동네 [Munhakdongne] 24 (1): 689–713.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Kim, Bunn. 2017. “『채식주의자』와 The Vegetarian: 원작과 번역의 경계 [Chaesikjuuija and The Vegetarian: The boundary between the original and its translation].” 영미문학연구 [Journal of English studies in Korea] 321: 5–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, and Kim, Wook-Dong. 2018. “The ‘Creative’ English Translation of The Vegetarian by Han Kang.” Translation Review 100 (1): 65–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar – shows how the debates on the supposed mistranslation of The Vegetarian are dominated by a preoccupation with fidelity and literal translation. They dismiss the translator’s interpretation or transformation, regarding accuracy or fidelity as the sole criterion for a good translation. Significantly, the critics’ advocacy of literal translation, and hence their objections to The Vegetarian, reflect three levels of political anxiety: over ‘superior’ translation, over ‘English’ translation, and over a female translator’s ‘feminist’ translation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation criticism, national literatures, and fidelity in the debates about The Vegetarian
  • 3.Political anxieties behind the controversy
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
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