Gregory C. Eaves Reviews our Translations of Jang Jung-il and Yi Kwang-Su

Gregory C. Eaves?
Image from Google Images

Gregory C. Eaves has a new site dedicated to book reviews, and I mention this because - as you might have noted from the heading above - Mr. Eaves talks about a couple of books translated by my wife and me. Let's note the Jang Jung-il novel first. Eaves deals with the book When Adam Opens His Eyes (1990, t. 2013) by Jang Jung-il (아담이 눈뜰 때 (1990) 글 장정일), summarizing it as:

"Holden Caulfield romps around Seoul in the late 1980s."

I have to admit I would never have made a connection between Jang Jung-il's character "Adam" and J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield! Are they really alike? Anyway, Eaves goes on to address our translation:

When Adam Opens His Eyes was translated into English in 2013 by Hwang Sun-Ae and Horace J. Hodges. It was published in English as part of Dalkey Archive Press's Library of Korean Literature and is available at Amazon.

So much for our translation of that - neither great nor terrible, I guess - and much the same for our translation of The Soil (1932-1933), by Yi Kwang-Su (1892-1950), for we are again simply mentioned:

It was translated by the husband-wife team of Horace J. Hodges and Hwang Sun-Ae.

Should I note that I go by "Jeffery"? At any rate, the reviews are otherwise informative, so those of you with interest in Korean literature - get thee hence and read!

Just a quick click on the links: When Adam Opens His Eyes and The Soil.