earticle

영어

As its point of departure, fictional turn in translation studies takes the idea that fictional representations of translation and translators are worthy of research and theorization as the translations themselves. Based on this idea, the present study aims to investigate the fictional portrayal of translators as represented in six Korean novels written in the post colonial period. These novels explore the identity of translators – and of Koreans to a great extent – as they live through three successive imperial rules, starting from Japanese colonial rule followed by a short-lived Russian trusteeship and ultimately the US army military government in Korea. The Korea depicted in the six novels is a significantly hybrid space where people – Korean, Japanese, Russian, American – and their languages intermingle with each other and translation becomes an indispensable element in forming the protagonists’ identity. Translating in these six novels is never a matter of neutral language transfer, but is represented as a political, self-serving activity. This study, the first of its kind in terms of bringing the scholarship associated with the fictional turn to bear on the analysis of Korean novels, will focus on how to address the question of language contact and translator identity represented in Korean literature during the post-colonial era and on providing a methodological framework for further research in this field.