Treacherous Translation: Culture, Nationalism, and Colonialism in Korea and Japan from the 1910s to the 1960s

Seoul-California Series in Korean Studies

by Serk-Bae Suh

This book examines the role of translation—the rendering of texts and ideas from one language to another, as both act and trope—in shaping attitudes toward nationalism and colonialism in Korean and Japanese intellectual discourse between the time of Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910 and the passing of the colonial generation in the mid-1960s. Drawing on Korean and Japanese texts ranging from critical essays to short stories produced in the colonial and postcolonial periods, it analyzes the ways in which Japanese colonial and Korean nationalist discourse pivoted on such concepts as language, literature, and culture.

254 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[モーリー · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't make it through most of this book, so I fear not being able to write a fair review, but I'll tell you why. It reads like a dissertation, with case studies seemingly chosen at random, overtheorization (and a lot of theory appears to have been quoted just to quote something), jargon, and abundant repetition. It's possible there is a solid argument and content here, but the writing gets in the way so much it's hard to make it through to find out. It needed to be edited for readability and repetition, at a minimum. A disappointment given my strong interest in the topic.