earticle

영어

This study considers a case of collaborative translation of an English medical textbook that took place during Korea’s modernization process in the late 19th and early 20th century. The transmission of Western medical knowledge in Korea is associated with the rise of Christian missionary movement, expansion of Japanese colonial governance and changes in local attitudes concerning Western knowledge and institutions. In this study, we explore the visibility of two translators affiliated with Chechungwŏn (House of Universal Helpfulness), Korea’s first royal Western-style hospital and medical school that was operated by Protestant missionaries. Based on an analysis of Korean translation of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, originally written by John M. Bruce, and drawing on the concepts of "paratextual visibility" and "extratextual visibility" (Koskinen 2000), we argue that different levels of translator visibility are identified with regard to Oliver Avison and Pil-Soon Kim, the two translators of the source text. Compared to his Korean collaborator, Avison, a medical specialist, missionary, and a man from the "Western civilization," is identified as having higher paratextual and extratextual visibility resulting from his relatively high social position and status in late Chosun society; however, Kim, despite his comparatively low extratextual visibility during and shortly after the time of translation, is anlayzed as having moderately high paratextual visibility due to his expertise concerning matters associated with translation method and strategy.