Korean translator highlights challenges of the craft in new book

Korean translator Anton Hur, who recently made the shortlist for the 2022 International Booker Prize, highlights the challenges of his craft in his new book, "No One Told Me Not To."

Literary translator Anton Hur poses for a photo. [KWEN HYEK-JAE]

A graduate from Korea University's school of law and Seoul National University's department of English literature, Anton Hur made his literary debut with his translation of “Li Chin” by bestselling author Shin Kyung-sook. The translator became the first Korean literary translator to get shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize just five years after his debut, with two of his translated novels earning nominations for the award in the same year. The award is arguably the most prestigious in the world of literature.

The résumé of the 42-year-old translator indeed looks stellar, with degrees from prestigious colleges and double nominations for the high-profile literary award. But those things didn’t come easy for Hur. He went to law school to live up to the expectations of his parents, who wanted their son to be a judge, but he soon found it was not the right fit for him. He was lost, and he ended up enrolling in a graduate school with the hope of landing a job in literature after entering his 30s.

Since then, Hur has tried his hand at various positions, from an interpreter and a computer programmer to a nonliterary translator. At the age of 36, however, he settled down as a full-time literary translator.

He earned a master’s degree in English literature, but he wasn't able to get to work right away. He had to persuade Korean publishers to translate Korean novels. He even flew to the United States with proposals and sample translations to promote certain Korean novels to be translated and printed in English.

“No One Told Me Not To,” a book by Hur published in August, depicts the struggles of the translator.

A book by Hur titled “No One Told Me Not To” [ACROSS]

During a recent interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, Hur said, “I’m pleased that now I can solely focus on translation since I was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.” Before the nomination, Hur said, he had to “discover books [he wished to translate from Korean to English], work on translation samples, call the Korean publishers to acquire the rights to translate, and then proceed with signings with foreign publishers.” He would spend 80 percent of his time and energy on this procedure. If he fails to sign contracts, all the time, money and effort he had poured were all in vain. Hur said, “This is a primary reason that there are less than five full-time literary translators out there.”

With so few translators, there are also few translated novels in the market. “About 10 or so Korean novels are translated and hit the bookshelves in North America each year.” Not only do readers tend not to read translated novels, but key a structural problem also hinders Korean translators from focusing on their work.

“Most [Korean] publishers take over the copyrights for the translation from the translators. Because of this practice, no extra incentives are given to translators, no matter how many books are sold. It’s hard to have experts in literary translation [under such circumstances]. Do you think it makes sense to see someone grabbing the Nobel Prize in Literature with less than 10 books translated into English every year?” Hur asked.

After his nomination for the Booker Prize, Hur signed a contract with an agent. Now his agent is in charge of the extraneous work he used to do, such as signing contracts, and translation requests pour in so he doesn’t have to look for work. But he still finds pleasure in “discovering new authors.”

Hur earned double nominations for the Booker Prize with his translations of “Cursed Bunny” by Chung Bora and “Love in the Big City” by Park Sang-young. He read the two novels in Korean first and then requested the publishers of the books to allow him to translate.

“I believe we export Korean novels by translating them. If the Literature Translation Institute of Korea can fund the cost of sample translations and the making of project proposals, there would be more chances to promote Korean literature outside the country. It’s nonsense to expect K-literature to thrive just because K-pop is doing well. Do you think [foreign] fans would read novels of Hwang Sok-yong just because they love Blackpink?”

Recently, HarperCollins Publishers, one of the world’s major publishers, headquartered in New York, signed a contract with him to publish his novel next summer in English.

Who would translate his maiden work? Hur smiled broadly as he mentioned Chung, the author of “Cursed Bunny,” as his translator.

BY HONG JI-YU [kjdculture@joongang.co.kr]