북한의 독일 문학 번역: 쉴러의 「빌헬름 텔」을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper examines the reception of German literature in North Korea through the translation of world literature, specifically Friedrich Schiller's Wilhelm Tell. This work has been translated four times during the Japanese colonial period, 32 times in South Korea since liberation, and at least three times in North Korea, making it suitable for comparative analysis both synchronically and diachronically. Concretely, I first examined North Korea's understanding of world literature, foreign literature, and translation, and then examined how Schiller and Schillerian literature are evaluated in North and South Korea. Next, I reviewed the three North Korean translations of the work in detail and analyzed the differences between the South Korean, North Korean translations and the German original. I also analyzed the gaps between literary and translation theory and practice in North Korean translations. In fact, while North Korea's literary theories and the prefaces and postfaces of the translations reflecting these theories show a strong political, ideological, and dogmatic color, the actual translations of the works are relatively weak in these colors, especially when they are fully translated. In other words, considering the general and universal values of 'world literature' and 'classical literature', we can see that there is a gap or crack between translation theory and actual translation. In this respect, there is a possibility for North and South Korea to communicate and dialog beyond their respective systems through a common reading experience of 'world literature'.