Reflections on "The Vegetarian" Translation Controversy (Tennant)

Two quotes came to mind while reading about the controversy surrounding Deborah Smith's translation of Han Kang's The Vegetarian. On the subject of fidelity in translation, Vladimir Nabokov maintained that "the clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase," whereas Jorge Luis Borges advocated for an enrichment and even transformation of the original: "Translation is a more advanced stage of civilization." Like Borges, I believe that liberties can and should be taken "as needed" in a translation, so long as they are morally and sincerely motivated, guided by strong literary sensibilities, and contextualized within the rhetorical situation (writer, audience, exigence, purpose, context, message) that gave rise to the original. 

I concede that S. K. Yoon's feminist reading of the translation is persuasive and could very well be what Deborah Smith was going for. (In the first sentence alone, Smith exaggerates the narrator's characterization of In-hye from "[not] anything special" to "completely unremarkable in every way.")  However, Smith's translation was not marketed to the public as such (e.g., The Vegetarian: A Feminist Fable), nor do I imagine it was presented to the publishing houses as a motivated retelling. I read Smith's translation as recently as last summer and found it to be an enjoyable read. Knowing what I know now, I find that her poeticized rendition of the novel sacrifices subtlety and restraint for bold, insistent language that pushes her own interpretative agenda. What's more, Smith's prose draws attention to itself, whether it be flowery and beautiful ("blood ribboned out of her wrist") or narratively clumsy (the "ribbon" metaphor is disingenuous when framed as an observation from our psychologically stunted narrator). Style, or form, should only draw attention to itself when it functions in concert with the story, or content. Smith's translation has been praised for its elegance and graceful construction. Unfortunately, I believe she has diminished and distorted the body of Kang's work in service of appearances and "beautification."

                                                                                                                            Sawyer