『하므렡』의 번역자 설정식과 연희전문 문과의 영어영문학 교육

Abstract

This paper investigates and reconstructs the influence on Sŏl Chŏngsik as a student and translator of English literature considering the college education he received in Korea. His Hamŭlet, published only one year before the Korean War, was the first complete translation of the iconic classic into Korean directly from the English original. It demonstrates an interesting conjuncture of the west and the east, of the Sino-Korean and vernacular Korean, which bears the marks of the curriculum and pedagogy of his alma mater, Chosen Christian College (Yonhui College), where effective training in English skills was combined with a literary education on Western and Eastern classics. Moreover, in the ambiance of ecumenical Protestantism, Sŏl Chŏngsik's undergraduate college fostered Korean studies, setting up an enclave of linguistic and cultural freedom within the tightly regimented Japanese colonial regime. The grafting of Leftist politics on the prophetic tone of his poetry enriched with allusions to the Bible, and his involvement in the Armistices Talks as the main interpreter for the Communist side, have puzzled and fascinated scholars of modern Korean literature. Although a passing reference to what he seems to have acquired at Yonhui College is not entirely missing in the discussions by the critics of Sŏl's creative writing, the exceptional role which Sŏl's undergraduate school had played in the formation of his habitus deserves closer scrutiny. Similarly, his contributions as a translator of English and American literature tend to be relegated to footnotes (if remembered at all) in Korean literary studies. However, Hamŭlet by this hapless writer and translator, who quite exceptionally in colonial Korea had studied English literature in the United States, stands as an impressive historical model of transforming English literature into an abiding asset for Korean literary culture.