THE ART OF GROWING TOGETHER: KOREAN POETRY TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH

Abstract

Art has no frontiers, but when the art in question is literature, it is more the language itself that limits that art’s diffusion and consequent appreciation. The translation of literature from other cultures, and especially from cultures that in earlier times were labeled exotic or alien to one’s own, has assumed greater relevance in our era. This essay explores poetry and other Korean cultural artifacts, some ancient and others contemporary, as a means of identifying both touchstones for and obstacles to cross-cultural communication. Keywords: Literary translation, Moon-Chung-Hee, Spanish poetry, postcolonial societies, cross-cultural comunnication.