The Korea Magazine 수록 英譯 이규보 한시의 특성과 그 의미

Abstract

This study aims to introduce the poems of Yi Kyoobo(李奎報), which are included in the Korea Magazine published from 1917 to 1919. While scanning the 5 articles of the Korea Magazine containing Yi Kyoobo’s content, we discovered ten embedded Yi Kyoobo’s poems instead of the previously assumed five. This paper also aims to analyze the characteristics of selection and translation process regarding the ten poems displayed in the magazine. Yi Kyoobo’s poems were more often present as part of articles than being independently published, thus demonstrating the need to search within the articles. There is great difficulty in foreseeing the content of the articles by simply reading the titles, thus searching for Yi Kyoobo’s poems embedded within the articles require a full examination of the article. Oftentimes, Yi Kyoobo’s poems were discovered in unexpected areas inside the article. In the five articles containing Yi Kyoobo’s poems, not all of the authors of the article could be identified. Through comparison of literary characteristics with related documents, we predict that it was in fact James S. Gale who wrote these five articles. In one of Gale’s English poems resembling the content of a similar Yi Kyoobo’s poem, there does not exist a title nor does it mention that it is a translation. However, when compared to what is suspected to be the original poem, we have strong confidence that Gale’s version was a translation of the poem. Assuming such, we see that Gale directly moved the content of each poem in his translation. However, one notable difference with the original and the translated version is that Gale translated words such as ‘道, 造物主, 天’ into ‘God’, thereby shifting the poem’s perspective into that of a Christian’s. Furthermore, we see that Gale highlighted the humor and wit in Yi Kyoobo’s poems. Lastly, analyzing this translation demonstrates that the technique of “insertion poetry” in classic poetry in 20th century era was initiated by Gale. Therefore, to debate the initial characteristics of Gale’s poem, it becomes necessary to have a broad perspective in studying poetry. Overall, there exists a need for a greater collection of appropriate literary works in order to analyze the details of poetry in this era.