Translating Queer in Japan: Affective Identification and Translation in the ‘Gay Boom’ of the 1990s

Abstract

This chapter considers both Korean and Japanese translations of Yun's works and the implications of the various loci of the translators and the historical or political relationships reflected in the translations. Moreover, it will take a comparative literary perspective in its examination and discussion of differences found among Yun Dong-ju's poetic works in Korean and the revised versions of these works in Standard Korean, as well as in Japanese translation. It focuses on the differences in literary meaning rather than on criticizing any particular translator and considers what happened to Yun's poetry when it crossed borders and encountered readers in Japan. The chapter discusses several issues raised by Japanese translations of Yun Dong-ju's poetry, particularly in terms of the differences arising from variations in source texts, differences arising from a lack of knowledge of Old Korean and the Korean of the Ryongjeong region of Yanbian and differences that arise from each translator's particular social and philosophical position.