Park Ji-won's novels debut in English after 200 years

By Chung Ah-young

Novelist Park Ji-won (1737-1805), better known by his literary name Yeonam, was an unusual intellectual who went against the tide in a profoundly conservative and inflexible Confucian social system during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

His literary works may have been considered sensational in the past but are still relevant and worthwhile reading today because of his reform-minded and visionary thoughts.
Park's complete short stories have been recently translated into English for the first time in a new book, "The Novels of Park Jiwon: Translation of Overlooked Worlds" (Seoul National University Press: 160 pp., 55,000 won or $55), by Emanuel Pastreich, director of the Asia Institute and associate professor at Woosong University in Daejeon.

Previously, just two of his ten novels had been published in English.

But Pastreich's translations, sponsored by the Korea Literature Translation Institute, are more accurate through effective literary English, rife with annotations to help readers better understand the background of each piece.

"It is a shame that in the effort to win a Nobel Prize for Literature for a deserving Korean author we have neglected to translate the masters of the past who deserve global recognition. We hope this collection will be included in surveys of global literature around the world so that his novels become part of the new canon,ofwhat all students read when they go to college, alongside Confucius and Plato," Pastreich said in an interview with The Korea Times.

The professor first encountered the writings of Yeonam when he came to Seoul National University in 1985 to conduct his research on novels of China, Japan and Korea of the 18th century.

He immediately admired the works of Yeonam as they were filled with a complex set of ideas of how Joseon could become a more advanced nation that he wanted to present to the leaders of his country.

"The time was not right, and he could not persuade those conservative forces in power. So he turned to literature as the means to effectively influence people, and in that respect he was most successful. He continues to influence us today," he said.

During the Joseon period, the novel in literary Chinese had been a minor genre as an informal medium. But for Park, the genre was a fit vessel for debates on ideology, economic systems, institutions, philosophy and psychology. Using the role of the novel as a tool Yeonam attempted to transform society in the late 19th-century Korea.

As an advocate of Practical Studies ("silhak") and of the movement known as Northern Studies ("bukhak") within Practical Studies, Park sought to bring natural science, applied science and mathematics, physics, biology, medicine and institutional reform in 18th-century Qing China to his land whose leaders adhered to the institutions of the defunct Ming Dynasty and were suspicious of Manchurians, although the Manchu rule was corrupt and illegitimate.

Yeonam took the classical language of literary Chinese to describe the downtrodden such as beggars, merchants of night soil,charlatans, and poor widows who were marginal in Korean literature. Not only did Park feature these people, he made them the protagonists of his novels, which was considered as "a revolution of sorts."

Pastreich noted, "Korean intellectuals were lost in the world of abstract concepts of good and virtue at the time, writing about sages of the distant past, or scholar officials who emulated the past. No one was describing the world as it is: its contradictions and its sadness.
"And to take the highest form of literary Chinese and use it to articulate the words of a beggar, that was shocking. Park did so, I believe, to lead people towards a new concept of an inclusive society."

His vision of an inclusive society is significant even today.

"We also see, in Korea and around the world, terrible gaps in our society, large numbers of people who have just become invisible. Park is saying that we need to train the eyes of intellectuals to see the world as it is, not to ignore ordinary people who are 'unimportant.' I think we can learn a lot from him," he said.

Park's language is particularly difficult because it is intentionally ambiguous, and often includes allusions to the classics that can be read in multiple ways.

"He created linguistic gems that sparkle differently, depending on what direction you shine light on them. When you translate such writing into English, you are forced to flatten it out a bit," he said.

The professor views Park's novels as ultimately attaining a global reach.

Regarding his translations he said, "I think that there is a clear appeal for the Western readers in that his novels have a subtle irony to them that is both questioning of accepted norms, but does not preach.

"There is a calm and compassionate spirit beneath the surface of Park's writing that is quite touching. He provides a glance into a past that looks quite similar to our present. I hope this translation will make his genius for combining satire with empathy visible to the global literary world."

"The Tale of the Yangban Scholar" implies his poignant views on the Confucian social system by lampooning the hypocrisy and inability of the 'yangban' (noble/scholar class).

Park satirized the yangban by writing that, "The yangban does not plow the earth, nor does he engage in commerce. With just a cursory knowledge of literature and history, a yangban can pass the higher exams and succeed in the civil service. Even those who are not particularly distinguished pass the exams and become a licentiate."

Pastreich interestingly finds Park 's literature reminiscent of "The Persian Letters" by Montesquieu in 1721 as the French novel in the form of letters sent home by fictional Persian visitors also described his own French society as it would be perceived by foreigners from an exotic land.

Yet Park's situation is more complex. He wrote in literary Chinese as a Korean, simultaneously poking fun at Korea and Manchuria.

Meanwhile, "The Tale of the Horse Traders" and "The Tale of Gwang Mun the Beggar" reveal an entire universe in the margins and on the underside of Korean society.

Just as Victor Hugo and Thomas Hardy chose the underprivileged as protagonists, Park found nobility in the simple lives of commoners.