『자기 앞의 생』의 한국어 번역 고찰

Abstract

La vie devant soi is the second novel published by the author, Romain Gary, under the pen name Emile Ajar. The first was a Gros-Câlin, and the third and fourth were the Pseudo and L’Angoisse du roi Salomon. Vie et Mort d’Emile Ajar, which he left as a historic note, when he pulled his pistol at the age of 66 in 1980, revealed that Romain Gary himself was Emile Ajar. BR La vie devant soi has been translated many times in Korea. According to our research, there are now 27 Korean translations of this work. Given that it’s a relatively long story, and given that Korean readers aren’t the only ones who know their names (for example, L’Etranger in Camus or Petit Prince in Saint-Exupéry), the fact that there are 27 translations is very significant. As you can see, this work has impressed many Korean readers. BR In the translation of this work, it is our idea that it is necessary to carefully consider these unique features. In particular, it is an effort to convey the ‘otherness’ revealed through linguistic usage, unique habits, and the strange feelings, and to convey the hopeful color and the calm daily impression to the readers as much as possible without adding or subtracting to the reader. It is said that it will be the most important criterion for evaluating the translation of this work.BR In this regard, we first need to look carefully at the title of this work. The title of the French title La vie devant soi is ‘life’, that is, ‘life going forward’. And most of the Korean translations of this work are literally titled “La vie devant soi (Life Before Yourself)” by translating the original French phrases. In fact, the expression ‘live before self’ does not exactly fit the Korean language, and it has the disadvantage that it can distort the meaning of the original title. If you translate this phrase like this while translating general text, it may be an obvious “error”. However, it is our opinion that the choice of these translations may be appropriate in relation to the title of the work and in conveying the color tone of the work described above.BR The title of this work needs to be interpreted from the perspective of ‘front’ and ‘back’ rather than simply the temporal nuances of ‘past’ and ‘future’, and in this regard our translations are common. It is our idea that the translation used in our mind, the translation of ‘the life before us’ that takes advantage of the French preposition ‘devant’, is appropriate.