충남대학교 고전연역회의 『반계수록』 번역과 간행

Abstract

Chungnam National University, founded in 1952, established the Research and Translation Center for Classics (CNU RTCC) in 1958, whose main purpose was to translate Korean classics. As a research institute first established at CNU, it successfully published the first collection of The Annotated Korean Translation of Bankye’s Essays in four volumes, starting from January 1962 to December 1968. CNU RTCC’s publication of Bankye’s Essays marked a significant milestone in a research history of Korean classics. First, it is significant because Chungnam National University, even in the midst of the turbulent fifties, got interested in the classic written by Hyung-Won Yu, a representative scholar of the Realistic School toward the end of Chosun Dynasty. It is furthermore significant because North Korea was also translating Bankye’s Essays around the same time when CNU was doing. The CNU version is valued by researchers more than by general readers in virtue of its literal translation policy which helps it close to the original text. Also, it is a rare academic achievement that CNU made as a local university early in the national task of translating Korean classics which was almost simultaneously being done by other universities in Seoul.