Lyricism and Its Translation in Short Story : Can the Lyrical Survive?

This study examines how lyricism is represented and reshaped in the translation of the Korean short story, a genre where lyrical effects are especially prominent. Focusing on Hwang Sun-won’s Sonagi and its three English translations, it explores how literary techniques and stylistic devices—such as shifts in point of view, free indirect discourse, syntactic compression, imagery, onomatopoeia, symbolic motifs, and temporal disjunction—construct lyricism and how they are reconfigured in translation. Building on previous studies, this paper notes that the source text often employs compressed syntactic patterns and brief clauses that carry implicit psychological resonance and invite interpretive openness. In translation, these patterns are often transformed in diverse ways, reflecting translators’ literary backgrounds, genre sensibilities, and judgments shaped by the linguistic, cultural, and literary norms of the target context. Comparison of the three versions shows distinct orientations: one prioritizes narrative clarity over conciseness; another accentuates rhythm and imagery, sometimes heightening lyricism beyond the source; and the third balances fidelity with stylistic sensitivity. Rather than assuming that lyricism must be identically reproduced or assessed by translational adequacy, the study highlights its dynamic and negotiable character. Lyricism in translation emerges not as a fixed attribute but as a literary effect recontextualized, transformed, and at times re-created through the translator’s interpretive strategies. The findings underscore that translation is an aesthetic practice involving the reconfiguration of stylistic resources and affective outcomes. The study further suggests implications for translation practice, criticism, and pedagogy, while also offering insights into how the lyrical dimension of Korean literature may be sustained, adapted, and newly appreciated within the context of global literary circulation.