The “Creative” English Translation of<i>the Vegetarian</i>by Han Kang

Abstract

This chapter explores how Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian, which won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction, was translated into English by Deborah Smith. It claims that the translation quality is poor in terms of its content as well as in terms of its form. First of all, the translator has no good command of the Korean language and culture. Broadly based on the Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) model introduced by Julian House (and Julian C. Sager as well), this chapter attempts to identify and explain what she terms “overt errors”. Smith sees translation of a work of literature as rewriting it “creatively” in another language. Is what Smith has done in The Vegetarian an act of creation or an act of betrayal? A close reading of her translation reveals that the answer leans toward betrayal rather than creation.