한듕록, The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏn (1795–1805): experience of translating River

-Associate Professor Dr. Kondratyeva Elena Nikolaevna (Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University)

Special Lecture Series on Classical Korean Literature: Research and Translations

The special lecture series „Classical Korean Literature: Research and Translations“ brings to the wider audience new insights into Korean literary heritage and current trends in presenting Classical Korean literature to the international audience. Individual lectures of the series will be held by distinguished scholars within the field of Korean literature of Koryŏ (918–1392) and Chosŏn times (1392–1910), who will introduce their recent publications. Thorsten Traulsen’s translation of Buddha’s biography written in Korean alphabet, Barbara Wall’s analyses of Korean perception of a legendary Chinese monkey, Dennis Wuerthner’s rendition of Koryŏ literati stories and poetry or Elena Kondratyeva’s work on memoirs of Korean queen show a fascinating richness of Korean literary heritage and at the same time indicate recent trends in introducing, translating and marketing this cultural commodity. Talks and following discussions present a rare opportunity to see Korean literature research and translation „in making“; in the course of lectures will be discussed problems presented by the multiscriptual nature of the literary canon written both in Literary Sinitic and Korean alphabet, difficulties of reading the original documents, role of the English as a medium in Korean Studies or strategies to secure funding for such projects and publications.

The peculiarity of translating Korean medieval texts always involves additional research and obligatory commentary. This lecture aims to share the experience of translating one of the most interesting Korean literary monuments, Hanjunnok (The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏn (1795–1805)), and to describe the principles followed and the difficulties encountered in the translation process, such as interpreting the title, dealing with special vocabulary, and decoding the original text's graphics etc.