Seung-Hee Jeon is Research Professor at Kim Dae-Jung Presidential Library and Museum, Yonsei University. She also taught at Harvard University and Seoul National University. A member of the editorial board of Asia: A The Quarterly Magazine of Asian Literature, she is a South Korean writer and bilingual translator. As well as translating into English from Korean, she has translated profusely into Korean from many languages. Seung has recently taken an interest in Bengali literature and her first project is Shaheen Akhtar's Talash
, which she is going to translate into the Korean language. This interview was conducted via email.What has drawn you to Bengali literature?In the past decade or so, I have served on the editorial board of the quarterly bilingual (Korean and English) literary magazine Asia, which was founded in 1996. Asia features literary works and social and cultural articles about Asian peoples and countries, in order to foster inter-Asian dialogue and create a vision for a better future for the region and the world. As an editorial board member, I solicited and read an overview of Bengali literature written by Professor Jamil Ahmed of Dhaka University, as well as Shaheen Akhtar’s wonderful novel
The Search. Professor Ahmed’s article, which we published last year, both summarizes recent Bengali history and offers an overview of contemporary Bengali literature. His reading of Bangladesh’s modern history and contemporary literature resonated strongly with my experience and understanding of Korean history and literature. Both countries have rich histories and cultural legacies, yet both have also suffered badly from imperialist aggressions in the last century and beyond. This suffering has included not only the loss of independence, economic exploitation, and other forms of humiliation, but also war, disunion, and linguistic oppression. In the past 50 years or more, both countries have also had to grapple with post-colonial, post-independence challenges. Since literature reflects and engages the society in which it is created, it seems to me that Bengali and Korean literatures have been struggling with similar problems. When I read
The Search, it absorbed me entirely because it presented problems so similar to those undergone by the Korean people and so many other peoples during the modern period. When I finished reading it, I knew I wanted to learn more about Bangladesh and to read more of its literature, so that I could learn from the Bangladeshi experience and also add to the ongoing, inter-Asian, and post-colonial dialogue. That is why I am translating The Search and learning about your country’s history, and why I visited Bangladesh this year.
You have worked on war literature produced by South Korean writers. Do you think there are commonalities between the war narratives of Bangladesh and Korea?As we all know, wars create an enormous level of human sacrifice, in addition to their sheer physical destruction. Even the victors and survivors do not survive without scars and trauma. Therefore, societies and communities have the task of addressing and properly taking care of war survivors, in particular, the most severely victimised and traumatised. Unfortunately, post-WWII reality has not been favourable to the undertaking of this major task, as the new superpowers were busy rearranging the world order for their own benefit. As a result, politics in smaller and weaker nations were manipulated, mostly in opposition to democratic processes, and these countries were not really given the chance to properly care for their war victims and address colonial legacies or war crimes.
One example of this reality, whether inadvertent or not, has been the Nobel literature prize, whose winners have been dominated by either Western or Western-language authors. Despite the existence of many literary masters in Asian literatures, a Western readership has not always had the opportunity to appreciate them. Given this reality, then, I think inter-Asian dialogue does make sense, since we often share similar histories and interests.
Shaheen Akhtar’s
The Search is a powerful novel that deals with this highly complicated issue in a thoughtful, and at times subversive way. I find it very similar to the way many modern Korean novels deal with the war experiences of Korean people and their handling of postwar traumas and memories. In official discourse, wars are often presented through heroic stories, even while they include sacrifice. I feel that the war stories of many Bangladeshi and Korean authors are much more complex and richer, and often represent the stories and perspectives of the weakest and most alienated.
Do you think it makes more sense if the literature of an Asian country is translated into that of another Asian country, rather than into a European language? I don’t necessarily think of it as an either-or proposition. It is of course highly welcome to have Asian literatures translated into Western languages, so they can be read and appreciated by a public with mastery of those languages, and above all into English, the lingua franca of our time. Indeed, if
The Search had not been translated into English, I could not have read it and therefore would not have decided to introduce it to Korean readers! On the other hand, since the publication world in Western countries, like in most of the rest of the world, is generally driven by capital, we cannot expect that our most thoughtful works will always be the first ones translated into Western languages. Also, it is possible that our most urgent and heartfelt issues and realities might not resonate with those of Western readers, including intellectuals, and therefore would not be as appreciated by them, even if excellent Asian literary works are translated into those languages. One example of this reality, whether inadvertent or not, has been the Nobel literature prize, whose winners have been dominated by either Western or Western-language authors. Despite the existence of many literary masters in Asian literatures, a Western readership has not always had the opportunity to appreciate them. Given this reality, then, I think inter-Asian dialogue does make sense, since we often share similar histories and interests. What’s more, because Asians have had such different experiences from Westerners during the modern period, we tend to see things they might overlook. I also believe this can lead us to form more creative solutions and models for the systematic failures in which our contemporary world finds itself, with its intensifying crises and conflicts. I hope that more Asian peoples can make the effort to learn one another’s languages, and in doing so will accelerate our creative dialogues. After all, half of the world’s principal languages by population of native speakers are Asian!
What role do Asia Magazine and Asia Publications play in promoting Asian literatures?Asia Publishers was established in Seoul in 2006 to promote inter-Asian dialogue. We began publishing a quarterly literary magazine, Asia, in a Korean-English bilingual format and invited critics and writers from other Asian countries to be our editorial advisors and contributors. Our basic assumption was that with the collapse of the post-World War II Cold War system, in which competition between communism and capitalism had dominated, our world needed a different and more creative alternative for a better world. In this new global environment, we are hoping that the more powerful do not oppress the weaker and minorities, and that all are able to live more peacefully and equitably, in harmony with one another, including with animals and the natural environment.
As I mentioned earlier, we saw an advantage to being members of a society that has been oppressed by the powerful, and that we could contribute to the creation of a new vision. And we hoped to provide a platform for others to do so. Although we are aware that the “Third World discourse” in the past had a similar goal, it was a scattered effort, at best, in a world where the superpowers dominated. By creating a regular forum for mutual understanding and an exchange of ideas, we hoped to be more consistent in this effort. Since then, we have introduced many major Asian works to Korean readers through the publication of translated works. We’ve also published a bilingual, pocketbook series of modern Korean fiction, as well as contemporary “K-fiction” series, also in a Korean-English format. Additionally, over the past decade or so, we have sponsored or co-sponsored Asian literature forums in Korea, where many Asian authors have exchanged their ideas and wisdom and formed creative networks. We hope to expand these efforts together with more Asian and world readers and citizens.
Are you going to translate any other books than Shaheen Akhtar's The Search?Absolutely! I have already read quite a few excellent Bangladeshi poems, short stories, and novels, and Asia magazine is currently preparing a Bangladeshi special focus issue. In addition, we definitely hope to translate other works by major Bangladeshi authors. I personally would love to work on more translations of works of fiction, and hope I will have a chance to learn the language, with its rich history and many readers, although I don’t know how far I can go, beginning quite late in my life. I do hope that more Korean and Bangladeshi young people learn each other’s language and translate each other’s literature. As I mentioned earlier, I hope that young Asians make the effort to learn one another’s languages, so that they can create opportunities for contributing to the building of a better world.
As I mentioned earlier, we saw an advantage to being members of a society that has been oppressed by the powerful, and that we could contribute to the creation of a new vision. And we hoped to provide a platform for others to do so. Although we are aware that the “Third World discourse” in the past had a similar goal, it was a scattered effort, at best, in a world where the superpowers dominated. By creating a regular forum for mutual understanding and an exchange of ideas, we hoped to be more consistent in this effort. Since then, we have introduced many major Asian works to Korean readers through the publication of translated works. We’ve also published a bilingual, pocketbook series of modern Korean fiction, as well as contemporary “K-fiction” series, also in a Korean-English format. Additionally, over the past decade or so, we have sponsored or co-sponsored Asian literature forums in Korea, where many Asian authors have exchanged their ideas and wisdom and formed creative networks. We hope to expand these efforts together with more Asian and world readers and citizens.Are you going to translate any other books than Shaheen Akhtar's The Search?Absolutely! I have already read quite a few excellent Bangladeshi poems, short stories, and novels, and Asia magazine is currently preparing a Bangladeshi special focus issue. In addition, we definitely hope to translate other works by major Bangladeshi authors. I personally would love to work on more translations of works of fiction, and hope I will have a chance to learn the language, with its rich history and many readers, although I don’t know how far I can go, beginning quite late in my life. I do hope that more Korean and Bangladeshi young people learn each other’s language and translate each other’s literature. As I mentioned earlier, I hope that young Asians make the effort to learn one another’s languages, so that they can create opportunities for contributing to the building of a better world.