번역 문학가 금아 피천득에 대한 시론(試論) - 『셰익스피어 소네트 시집』과 번역시집 『내가 사랑하는 시』를 중심으로

Abstract

Best remembered as a renowned scholar of English literature, essayist, and poet, Pi Chyun-Deuk (1910-2007) also made his mark as a Korean translator of foreign poetry. As we commemorate Pi’s remarkable feats on the centennial anniversary of his birth, it is appropriate to closely examine his dual role as translator and creator of literature. In My Literary Life with Poems, Pi explained that his purpose of translation was simply “to share [his] favorite foreign poems with Korean readers.” Pi’s philosophy for translation was as follows: 1. A translated poem must convey the poet’s original intent. 2. A translated poem must sound as natural as a poem written in Korean. 3. A translated poem must be easy and enjoyable to read. Using the above principles as his rationale, Pi selected for his translation work “foreign poems which can be recited with pleasure.”One of Pi’s landmark work is Sonnets by Shakespeare in which he translated all the 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare; in addition to the translations, Pi added three commentaries, “On Shakespeare,” “About Sonnets,” and “Shakespeare’s Sonnets” which offer this esteemed literary scholar’s discerning and witty critiques about the sonnets he translated. Another important translation work is Pi’s The Poems I Love; in this volume are found short poems by various master poets from both East and West -- William Blake, Alfred Tennyson, Do Yean Meong, Du Fu, Yosano Akiko, Wakayama Bokusui, Isigawa Tagubogu, and R. Tagore, to name a few. Pi’s two collections of translated poetry offer a valuable insight into his literary world; as for his philosophy for translation, his translated poems are, true to form, easy, enjoyable, and natural. Pi experimented with the form of some sonnets but for the most part, he adroitly maintained the integrity of the 14-line format as well as the intended meaning of the individual sonnet. Pi’s Sonnets by Shakespeare and The Poems I Love are templates by which we can learn from the expertise of a virtuoso translator how to establish new ways of translating foreign poems into Korean.