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Article published In: Target
Vol. 29:1 (2017) ► pp.87–109

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Reframing the victims of WWII through translation

So far from the Bamboo Grove and Yoko Iyagi

 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
Published online: 1 June 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.29.1.04kim
This study examines the ways and extent to which narrative voices encoded in a source text are reframed and mediated through translation. So Far from the Bamboo Grove (Watkins, Yoko Kawashima. 1986. So Far From the Bamboo Grove. New York: A Beech Tree Paperback Book.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the personal narrative of an eleven-year-old Japanese girl during the final days of WWII, was used as an educational text for primary and middle school pupils in the US until it became the target of heavy criticism from Korean-American parents who boycotted the book, arguing that it misguided young American students by constructing a ‘good Japanese–bad Korean’ binary. The Korean translation was distributed by a reputable publishing house in South Korea until 2007, when its distribution became controversial. Although the book – and its translation – has been the target of much criticism, it has been neglected by scholars of translation studies. Adopting the model of analysis elaborated by . 2006. Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and drawing on the concept of framing by Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and the work of . 1997. Paratexts: Threshold of Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, this study analyses So Far from the Bamboo Grove and its Korean translation, Yoko Iyagi (. 2005. Yoko Iyagi. Translated by Hyeon-Joo Yoon. Seoul: Munhakdongne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, trans. Yoon), and investigates the framing strategies used by mediators to reframe the narrative in a new setting.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Narrative and frame
  • 3.Narrativising SFFBG in the US
  • 4.Framing SFFBG through translation
  • 5.When a new layer of frame is placed: Anger over the reversal of victims and victimisers
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (50)
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