A Korean market in the early 20th century / Courtesy of Robert Neff Collection

It's a truism that humor travels less well than pathos. But that isn't the only reason comedic material is less translated than other Korean creative expressions. It's also been partly due to an attitude that only "important" literature is worthy of translation, with popular entertainment excluded by definition. This can make Korean literature and culture in translation seem more dour than it actually is.

A window on the history of Korean humor that I find fascinating is "Kkalkkal Useum," or "Laughing Bwahaha," a collection of 70 short texts published in 1916. According to researcher Kim Jun-hyeong, it stands out among anecdotal literature of its era for its single-minded focus on humor over didactic content. It was a commercial hit, reaching its eighth printing in 1926.

"Kkalkkal Useum" may not be as funny to a contemporary reader in translation as it was to its original audience, but it offers a glimpse of what made a popular Korean audience laugh in 1916, as well as an image of the past on a more human scale than much "serious" literature.

The first joke I want to share from the collection features a bumbling husband, a comic type with transnational appeal. The translation is my own, and as far as I'm aware this material has never appeared before in English. For context, a "nyang" is a late Joseon-era coin denomination equal to 10 "jeon."

"You're Going to Lose Two Nyang on That"

A housewife wove a roll of hemp cloth. She gave it to her husband and said, "Take this to the market to sell."

Her husband said, "How much should I sell it for?"

She answered, "Make sure to get two nyang."

So, the man went to the market and walked around all day, but he couldn't find anyone who would pay more than one nyang.

On the way home, he had to move his bowels, so he set down the cloth, and by the time he got back from the outhouse, a thief had run off with it.

The man muttered, "Try as you might, you're going to lose two nyang on that."

Even among morons, this guy was a grade-A moron.

G.S. Hand is a graduate of the Translation Academy at LTI Korea and a master's candidate in modern Korean literature from Korea University, as well as winner of the Fiction Grand Prize of the 53rd Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards. He lives in Seoul.