A Study on the geography of Korean Folktales described in Foreign Languages in 1900s: Rewritten and Translated Korea

Abstract

This study focuses on a collection of Korean tales written by foreign languages published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: to analyze the dual aspects of translation and to examine the translated Korea embodied in the tales. When conducting oral literature research centered on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is still a major problem to specify the scope and methodology. One of key feature of this period is the publication of collections in foreign languages other than Korean and Hanmun. This is a clear indication of the heterogeneity of the period, but it also proves the need for the finalization of the field and the diversification of methodologies. In this study, I will interpret these texts from the perspective of Korean literary studies. From a perspective distinct from that of Korean tales, foreign language tales are described in another language, and the concept of their description, or translation, must be examined. This can be seen as a process of dual translation, in which Korean tales described in foreign languages first undergo a semantic and discursive shift in which Korean texts are transformed into foreign languages, and at the same time, a process of universal transformation based on the identity of the orality itself. Based on this, the related foreign language tales can be chosen and categorized, which is not only a classification of texts but also a possibility of categorizing the research area. Also, in this essay, translation encompasses the rewriting of tales. It is through the rewriting of tales that the intercommunication between Korean tales and the early 1900s context that surrounded them is revealed. Focusing on one of the most prolific tales in the collection, The Rabbit and Turtle, I will examine how Korea has been translated through the story world.