Interview with Japanese translator of Korean literature, Mariko Saito
“Han Kang’s works, which always have themes of pain and recovery, have a mysterious power.”
Mariko Saito (齋藤眞理子, 64), who translated five of Han River’s works, including ‘No Goodbye’, ‘White’, and ‘Greek Time’, into Japanese in Japan, said this about the charm of the Han River in an interview with the Dong-A Ilbo on the 13th.
“There are many people who live in pain without even realizing that they are sick. When such people read Han Kang’s works, they can think together and acknowledge their own pain. Han Kang’s works have the power to bring out stories hidden deep in the heart.”
Mr. Saito is considered one of the top Korean translators in the Japanese literary world. I first encountered Korean in a club while attending Meiji University in 1980, and then learned Korean at Yonsei University’s Korean Language Institute in 1991. In 2014, he began working as a full-fledged translator of Korean literature with Min-gyu Park’s ‘Castella’. Cho Nam-joo’s ‘Kim Ji-young, Born 1982’, translated in 2018, sold about 300,000 copies in Japan and became a bestseller, contributing to the Korean literature boom.
He said, “Japanese literature fans read a lot more Korean works than Koreans think. “I am more delighted than ever about Han Kang winning the Nobel Prize in Literature,” he said.
Regarding Han Kang’s Nobel Prize, Mr. Saito said, “I expected that he would win the award someday, but I didn’t think he would receive it this year because he was still young. “I thought maybe it was after I died,” he said in surprise. He said, “It occurred to me that the world needs writer Han Kang,” and “I think I’m old for expecting that I wouldn’t win the award because I was young. “The world has definitely changed,” he said.
The first Han River work he translated was ‘Greek Time’. In 2017, the publishing company Shobunsa (晶文社) was planning a Korean literature series and entrusted him with the translation. Mr. Saito, who fell in love with Han River’s works after translating ‘Greek Time’, proposed the translation of ‘White’ directly to a publisher and published it, and later translated ‘Yellow-patterned Eternity’ and ‘I Put Dinner in the Drawer’.
He focuses on the painful history of the Korean Peninsula, which serves as the background for many Korean literary works. He also evaluated Han Kang as “an outstanding writer who emerged from the flow of history, and by no means an isolated genius.”
“Korea has lived a difficult history that is unprecedented in the world, including Japanese colonial rule, division and war, and the oppression of human rights by a military dictatorship. “The charm of Korean literature is the strength of having experienced painful history and the delicacy that unfolds over it.”
Although he translated and introduced various Han River works to Japan, he said he had never actually met Han River. He said, “We only talked through email and online meetings,” but “He always responded politely and kindly. He remembered Han Kang as “a person with a deep personality and humor.” When I visited Jeju Island, the setting of the novel, while translating ‘No Goodbye,’ the Han River directly told me about the area where the work was set.
He is considered one of the top translators of Korean literature in Japan and is interested in a variety of Korean authors.
“Hwang Jeong-eun is a writer who makes you feel at ease just by thinking that such a person is alive on earth. I want to follow Bae Soo-ah and see how far she goes as her amazing talent shines. Solmoe Park is the most comfortable yet stands out for its experimental nature that makes you think about people. Jeong Ji-don is a really interesting and attractive writer, even though I don’t really know what it is.”
Young Korean writers active these days are popular in Japan, but Mr. Saito is also paying attention to writers who were active in the 1960s and 1980s. He said, “I want to translate works by Park Wan-seo, Lee Cheong-jun, Lee Ho-cheol, Yun Heung-gil, and Choi In-heung. “We are also making specific plans,” he said, hinting at future plans.
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![[단독]“There is a mysterious power in Han River’s works that focus on the theme of pain and recovery.”](https://dimg.donga.com/a/180/101/95/2/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/10/14/130211588.1.jpg "[단독]“There is a mysterious power in Han River’s works that focus on the theme of pain and recovery.”")
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