Translator Kim Jung-ah completes decade-long Dostoevsky translation project

This file image shows translator Kim Jeong-ah. Courtesy of Kim Jeong-ah

SEOUL, July 09 (AJP) - Translator Kim Jung-ah held a press conference in central Seoul on Monday to announce the publication of her Korean translation of "The Brothers Karamazov." With its release, she completed solo Korean translations of four major novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment," "The Idiot," "Demons," and "The Brothers Karamazov." The project took more than ten years from start to finish.

Kim is the first South Korean translator known to have completed full-length translations of all four works on her own. The total page count exceeds 6,600. Speaking to AJP, Kim said, "He's been the compass of my life. I've lived the last ten years as if we were connected by an umbilical cord."

She began with "Notes from Underground" around 2010, but started focusing on the major novels in 2018. Kim holds degrees from Seoul National University and Illinois State University, and also runs the fashion brand Space Nool. She did most of her translation work in the early morning hours, often beginning at 2 a.m. and continuing until just before heading to the office.

"'The Brothers Karamazov' drained me emotionally," she said. "There were nights I sobbed while translating certain passages. But it was in those moments I felt closest to Dostoevsky's view of humanity, not as fallen or broken, but as compassionate beings capable of redemption."

is file image shows translator Kim Jeong-ah. Courtesy of Kim Jeong-ah

The physical toll was significant. During work on "The Idiot," she began translating while standing due to chronic back pain. "At one point, a doctor told me not to cry during work," she said. "But how do you read 'Karamazov' and not cry?"

One of her priorities was to correct what she identified as more than one hundred mistranslations in earlier Korean editions. "I wanted to stitch the Korean version together with care, as if I were repairing a beloved's sweater," she said. "I tried to offer something qualitatively different."

The books are now available in standard paperback editions. "The Brothers Karamazov" has also been released in a special leather-bound edition, limited to 300 copies.

Kim refers to Dostoevsky as "Teacher Do" and considers herself his lifelong student. "He's the most human of all writers. Fully ninety percent of my life was shaped by him," she said.

She has been nominated for Russia's Pushkin Medal, an award that recognizes individuals who promote Russian literature and culture abroad.
Park Sae-jin Reporter swatchsjp@ajunews.com

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