프로이트 이론의 번역어에 대한 고찰: Verdrängung(억압)을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper started with a scholarly interest in reviewing and analyzing how critical terms in Freudian theory were into Korean. For this purpose, the paper has focused on the appropriacy and validity of Korean translation of a German term, ‘Verdrängung’, which has been generally translated into ‘repression’ in Korean, and analyzed the historical course of the reception of the term in Korean translation. As Freudian theory was first introduced through Japan, the Japanese translation or ‘Japanization’ of the Freudian theory as well as of those critical terms have had a significant impact on Korean literary scholars and medical scientists, not to mention the general mass during the Japanese colonialism, and thus consequently served as the scholarly foundation and professional understanding for its reception in postcolonial Korea. Interestingly enough, ‘Verdrängung’ has been consistently translated into ‘repression’ in Korean for nearly a century. However, as it has become controversial even in Japan where the Japanese translation of the term was initiated, it is not proper to understand ‘Verdrängung’ as ‘repression’ in Korean on several grounds. For instance, while the term ‘repression’ is to be understood on the premise that both the act of ‘repressing’ and the condition of ‘being repressed’ exist on the same dimension, in the case of ‘Verdrängung’ these two opposing concepts exist on a critically different space each. Also, other similar words are often roughly and generally translated into ‘repression’ in Korean, making not only the term ‘repression’ rather too wide and inclusive, but also the texts in which the terms are used more confusing and distractive. Thus, ‘repression’ whether in Korean or in Japanese, does not seem to be an appropriate translation of the German word ‘Verdrängung’. What seems to be more important is that it is not a matter of the translation of a single word. As the whole world of Freudian theory is critically constructed with these profound terms, the theory could be in danger of being misunderstood in the area of psychoanalysis in Korea. This paper would like to problematize the critical error in the reception of the term ‘Verdrängung’ in Korean translation and to document its materials as well as provide some of alternative translations.