In the July issue of KoreAm Chelsea Hawkins finds (sigh) that Korean Literature Still Lost in Translation, as apparently:
A pretty basic-level article -- and I'm beginning to think these muddy the waters as much as they bring attention to the issues.
Also: it's hard to tell whether the substantive explanations have been edited out of the quotes, or (as I often suspect) no one dealing in any way (even, like me, as an outside observer) with publishing has any real grasp of the 'business'.
(And, yes, this is an article that begins with a reference to the infamous 'three per cent' figure (mangled further by the claim that: "literary fiction and poetry comprises about 0.7 percent of that" -- 0.7 per cent of 3 per cent ? Whatever the actual number, it's nowhere near that minuscule), so that should have been a tip-off; see also my previous rant on the subject ...).)
the nation's beloved literature has remained niched, out of the limelight and still struggling to find its place in the American marketAmong the problems ? Apparently: "Many translations of Korean literature are dry and incredibly high-brow." (Alas, I think the idea that there are 'many' translations from the Korean is already misleading: I note that the (admittedly still incomplete) Translation Database figures for 2013 at Three Percent find all of ... one translation from the Korean appearing in the US for the entire year .....)
A pretty basic-level article -- and I'm beginning to think these muddy the waters as much as they bring attention to the issues.
Also: it's hard to tell whether the substantive explanations have been edited out of the quotes, or (as I often suspect) no one dealing in any way (even, like me, as an outside observer) with publishing has any real grasp of the 'business'.
(And, yes, this is an article that begins with a reference to the infamous 'three per cent' figure (mangled further by the claim that: "literary fiction and poetry comprises about 0.7 percent of that" -- 0.7 per cent of 3 per cent ? Whatever the actual number, it's nowhere near that minuscule), so that should have been a tip-off; see also my previous rant on the subject ...).)