樂善齋本≪紅樓夢≫中夾註之性格與特點

Abstract

Most of Hong Lou Meng’s (紅樓夢) translations were made after the 20th century, before that it was hard to find a full translation for this novel which has long length of 120 chapters. In this sense, Nak-sun-je (樂善齋) version which was presumed to be translated at the end of the 19th century was called the world’s first full translation of Hong Lou Meng. This paper is focused on some annotations of Nak-sun-je version of Hong Lou Meng, try to study what they are, and what we can find from them. The translators are also the readers of Hong Lou Meng, the words they chose to add annotations on were those they considered that the Joseon Dynasty readers may not know their significance, so it was necessary to explain the meaning for them. So, studying those annotations will be the first step of survey the Nak-sun-je version. The annotations in Nak-sun-je version were not one part of the main text, they were just like dictionary which can explain some unknown words for the readers, but by studying these annotations, it could help us know what were the most unfamiliar or the most interesting thing to the Joeson readers, and how they explained and accepted them. Annotations were not only helped the Joeson readers to understand the text well, they also could help us to find how the Joeson readers thought and accepted the culture in Hong Lou Meng, so they are very valuable material on studying of Hong Lou Meng.