Japanese Translation and the Acceptance of Western Detective Stories on the    Korean Peninsula : Focusing on Stories Published on <i>Chosen Shinbun</i> before 1910

LEE, Hyunhee

doi:2019.8.1.95

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 8(1); 2019 > Article

Article

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2019;8(1): 95-112.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2019.8.1.95

Japanese Translation and the Acceptance of Western Detective Stories on the Korean Peninsula : Focusing on Stories Published on Chosen Shinbun before 1910

Hyunhee LEE

高麗大学グローバル日本研究院研究教授

朝鮮半島における西欧探偵小説の日本語翻訳と受容*

Correspondence Hyunhee LEE ,Email: yuki0106@hanmail.net

Published online: 30 June 2019.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

The detective story had not still been established as a literary genre on the Korean Peninsula until 1910. There were a few detective stories, however, in Japanese-language private newspapers such as Hanamegane ( 鼻眼鏡 ), Nisegouto( 偽強盗 ), and Daininokekkon( 第二の血痕 ). These were originally the works of Conan Doyle, translated by Kokuchou (黑潮). They are identifiable as Doyle’s works by the presence of Sherlock Holmes in the opening scenes. However, in the process of translation, Kokuchou changed all the names of characters into Japanese. He also attempted to overcome the limit of space in a serial story of a newspaper by changing the first-person point of view into the third one. In addition, Kokuchou intervened in the text as a narrator, weaving in the truth of the complicated case through deduction. The intention was to help the Japanese readers of the day, who were unaccustomed to detective stories, to understand and enjoy each case.
These stories were introduced in the Chosen Shinbun(朝鮮新聞) in 1909, pre-colonization. There were a number of copies among the private newspapers, as Japan was extending its imperial hand toward the Korean peninsula. It can be supposed that these stories, based on the British Empire and the capital of London had the appeal of the enjoyable reasoning of detective stories. For the readers of the Chosen Shinbun, the detective Asaiwa must have been felt like a hero who protected the nation and society in a crisis. Through these stories about good versus evil, it seems that the readers of the Chosen Shinbun attempted to adapt to social change and satisfy a curiosity about a desire for Western culture.

Keywords: Chosen Shinbun, Translated Detective Stories, Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes Series, Kokuchou

キ―ワ―ド: 朝鮮新聞, 翻訳探偵小説, コナン ․ ドイル, シャーロック ․ ホームズシリーズ, 黒潮