The purpose of this study is to describe the role and interactions of various actors in the process of literary translation from Korean to English. Combining insights from Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this study uses a qualitative case study approach to investigate actors and their networks in the En...
The purpose of this study is to describe the role and interactions of various actors in the process of literary translation from Korean to English. Combining insights from Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this study uses a qualitative case study approach to investigate actors and their networks in the English translation of Korean literature.
Over the last decade, researchers have studied translation from a sociological perspective, applying social theories to study it as a social phenomenon. However, the sociology of translation studies is still unfamiliar to scholars, particularly in Korea, and this requires closer attention in terms of subjects and methodology. Few studies have investigated the various agents of translation, apart from translators themselves. Moreover, traditional research on the subject has mostly been restricted to limited methods, such as text-oriented research.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Korean literature across the world, and award-winning translators have shed new light on the previously lesser-known profession and social practice of literary translation.
Against this backdrop, this research employs Actor-Network Theory to investigate how translation actors form practical networks, which evolve and develop in very specific social circumstances. Specifically, the production of the following English translations of Korean literary works was examined: The Vegetarian, Flowers of Mold, and Hysteria.
Qualitative methods can be more useful for describing and identifying translation actors and network building. To collect data, related documents (Yin, 2009) were searched and reviewed comprehensively. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted with actors involved in the translation and publication process.
As description is necessary and important in ANT-guided research, networking processes that occurred during the above-mentioned translation projects were described according to Callon’s (1986) four moments of translationANT: problematisation, interessement, enrollment, and mobilisation. This study has identified interactions between human actors (translators, authors, agents, and editors) and nonhuman actors (ST, TT, English partials, publishing houses, and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea) in the process of translating Korean literature.
The investigation of translationANT showed how actors mapped out (problematised), persuaded (interested), recruited (enrolled), and coordinated (mobilised) other actors to publish Korean literature in the U.K. and the U.S. It was also found that many actors involved in the translating process tend to play multiple roles in the literary field as publishers, authors, copy editors and series editors alongside their role as translators. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that actors’ cooperation is crucial in the translation process. Continued efforts are needed to study collaborative translation between many actors.
Based on the research finding, this study suggests that Korean literary translation should be studied with a focus on various actors, such as authors, agencies, editors, institutions, as well as ST, TT or translators, since translations are initiated and produced not by a lone translator, but by a network of agents (Jones, 2009, p. 303). Moreover, greater efforts are needed to make the complex network and actors’ roles visible in the process of translating and publishing Korean literature.
The purpose of this study is to describe the role and interactions of various actors in the process of literary translation from Korean to English. Combining insights from Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this study uses a qualitative case study approach to investigate actors and their networks in the English translation of Korean literature.
Over the last decade, researchers have studied translation from a sociological perspective, applying social theories to study it as a social phenomenon. However, the sociology of translation studies is still unfamiliar to scholars, particularly in Korea, and this requires closer attention in terms of subjects and methodology. Few studies have investigated the various agents of translation, apart from translators themselves. Moreover, traditional research on the subject has mostly been restricted to limited methods, such as text-oriented research.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Korean literature across the world, and award-winning translators have shed new light on the previously lesser-known profession and social practice of literary translation.
Against this backdrop, this research employs Actor-Network Theory to investigate how translation actors form practical networks, which evolve and develop in very specific social circumstances. Specifically, the production of the following English translations of Korean literary works was examined: The Vegetarian, Flowers of Mold, and Hysteria.
Qualitative methods can be more useful for describing and identifying translation actors and network building. To collect data, related documents (Yin, 2009) were searched and reviewed comprehensively. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted with actors involved in the translation and publication process.
As description is necessary and important in ANT-guided research, networking processes that occurred during the above-mentioned translation projects were described according to Callon’s (1986) four moments of translationANT: problematisation, interessement, enrollment, and mobilisation. This study has identified interactions between human actors (translators, authors, agents, and editors) and nonhuman actors (ST, TT, English partials, publishing houses, and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea) in the process of translating Korean literature.
The investigation of translationANT showed how actors mapped out (problematised), persuaded (interested), recruited (enrolled), and coordinated (mobilised) other actors to publish Korean literature in the U.K. and the U.S. It was also found that many actors involved in the translating process tend to play multiple roles in the literary field as publishers, authors, copy editors and series editors alongside their role as translators. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that actors’ cooperation is crucial in the translation process. Continued efforts are needed to study collaborative translation between many actors.
Based on the research finding, this study suggests that Korean literary translation should be studied with a focus on various actors, such as authors, agencies, editors, institutions, as well as ST, TT or translators, since translations are initiated and produced not by a lone translator, but by a network of agents (Jones, 2009, p. 303). Moreover, greater efforts are needed to make the complex network and actors’ roles visible in the process of translating and publishing Korean literature.
주제어
#한국문학 번역 번역 행위자 번역가의 역할 번역 주체 번역 및 출판 과정 번역사회학 행위자-네트워크 이론 Korean literary translation literary translation agents role of literary translation agents literary translation process sociology of translation Actor Network Theory ANT
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