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Book Review French(Français)

[FRENCH] Slow Death

by Jeffrey Zuckerman , on September 13, 2022

  • English(English)

At the height ofsummer in 1762, the ruler of Korea, King Yeongjo, ordered his son, Crown PrinceSado, into a rice chest that was then sealed. The royal command meant slow,certain death for the twenty-seven–year-old prince.

What would drive a father to essentiallybury his son alive? How could every other member of the Joseon court avoid thestain of this scandal? These questions simmer beneath the surface of Hanjungnok, a series of memoirs written by Lady Hyegyeong, the woman whomarried Prince Sado and who lived on after her husband’s death to see theirson’s elevation to the throne.

Secrecy and suspense may be the driversbehind this sequence; the title of the new French translation by Han Yumi andHervé Péjaudier is Écrits du silence—literally“Writings out of Silence.” Lady Hyegyeong’s words, however, are the antithesisof silence. In a time when most Korean texts were composed in literary Chinese,this was written in vernacular Korean; in a time when writings about the royalcourt were written by men, here a woman was revealing all. And even so, she wasable to turn restraint into art; a footnote in the early pages of the Frenchtranslation begins: “The reader of the 1802–1805 Memoir will admire the art ofthe ellipsis here.”

Thesememoirs were brought into English by JaHyun Kim Haboush in 1996, and her workin ordering, editing, and translating these memoirs was seminal; in Haboush’stranslation, the memoirs are organized by date of composition, such thatreaders are informed of Lady Hyegyeong’s early life and transition to thecourt, then of her male relatives and the court before moving on to her son whobecame king in the wake of her husband’s death, and only finally about herhusband and how and why he was put to death. As such, the details of Sado’sdeath are withheld until practically the very end of the volume—therebymaintaining suspense across hundreds of pages.

As I turned from Haboush’s stunningEnglish translation to this first-ever French version, I was surprised to seethat the climactic memoir describing Sado’s death had been moved and nowimmediately followed the first memoir about Lady Hyegyeong’s entrance into thecourt. This decision, while made “for reasons as much chronological asdramaturgical,” has drained the other two parts of their dramatic energy; theynow read flatly. Rather than weaving a web of possible scenarios, they attemptto interrogate a scene that has already been set down on the page.

Other translation decisions illustratethis editorial sensibility. Here are the first two sentences of the memoir thatdescribe Sado’s death:

 

English Translation by JaHyun KimHaboush 

The tragedy of the imo year (1762) is unparalleled. Early in pyongsin(1776) the late King [Chongjo], who was then still Crown Prince, sent amemorial to his grandfather, His Late Majesty King Yongjo, requesting thedestruction of those portions of the Records of the Royal Secretariat[pertaining to that incident]. 

 

French Translation by Han Yumi andHervé Péjaudier

La mort du prince Sado en l’année Imo(1762) fut un malheur sans précédent. Juste avant qu’il ne se retrouvâtintronisé en l’année Eulmi (1776), Jeongjo avait demandé à son grand-père leroi Yeongjo : « Je vous prie de bien vouloir faire disparaître toute trace dece jour funeste du Journal du Secrétariat royal. »        

 

Literal English Translation of theFrench

The death of Prince Sado in the year Imo (1762) was an unprecedented tragedy. Just before he was enthronedin the year Eulmi (1776), Jeongjo had asked hisgrandfather the king Yeongjo: “I beg of you to please erase every trace of thisdreadful day from the Records of the Royal Secretariat.”


The effect, then, is a treatment of thisnarrative more as a historical document to be made accessible than as aliterary work of art that teaches its readers how to read it. Such editionscertainly have their value; scholars who want to tease out particular threadsor who would benefit from the subheadings that editors subsequently appended tothese texts will find this faithful French translation a valuable document tohave and to refer to. The common reader, however, who wishes to experience Hanjungnok as a literary work of art, will find that JaHyun Kim Haboush’sEnglish translation has made a masterpiece of a masterpiece that othertranslators can and should look to for inspiration.

 

Jeffrey Zuckerman

Translator, Written in Invisible Inkby Hervé Guibert (2020)


Keyword : Écrits du silence,Hyegyeong-Gung Hong

Book's Info
  • Écrits du silence
  • Author : Dame HYEGYEONG
  • Co-Author :
  • Translator : Han Yumi,Hervé Péjaudier
  • Publisher : Éditions IMAGO
  • Published Year : 2022
  • Country : FRANCE
  • Original Title : 한중록
  • Original Language : Korean(한국어)
  • ISBN : 9782380890570
Author's Info
[WriterVO : { rowPerPage : 0, start : 0, end : 0, searchTarget : null, searchKeyword : null, filter : []}]
Original Work's info
  • 한중록
  • Author : Hyegyeong-Gung Hong
  • Co-Author :
  • Publisher :
  • Published Year : 0
  • Country : 국가 > SOUTH KOREA
  • Original Language : Korean(한국어)
  • ISBN :

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