Seeing My Own Eyelashes: Gale’s Draft Translations from the Kyŏnch’ŏmnok 見睫錄

This study introduces Kyŏnch’ŏmnok 見睫錄, a late-Chosŏn categorized miscellany (p’ilgich’e yusŏ 筆記體 類書) circulated in manuscript, as translated by the Canadian missionary and pioneering scholar of Korean studies James Scarth Gale (1863–1937). Recent research has suggested that the original author―compiler of Kyŏnch’ŏmnok was Yun Tonghŭng 尹東興 (1697–1753). This paper provides additional historical references to corroborate Yun’s authorship, and examines Gale’s unpublished translations. Gale’s translations of Kyŏnch’ŏmnok can be approached from the perspectives of their composition, their contents, and their rhetorical aspects. First of all, he selected and reconstructed the translated excerpts according to his own standards while maintaining the genre specificity of the Kyŏnch’ŏmnok. One essential characteristic of his translation is that he actively intervenes in the translation process. In order to convey more effectively a different culture to Western readers, Gale translated in a proactive and flexible manner. In addition, in the case of his verse translations, his literary rhetoric stands out. He pursued a high level of literary perfection to allow the rhythms of the poems to come though even in the target language, English.