Translation Capacities from the Tale of Kiều (傳翹, Vietnam) and the Story of Chunhyang (춘향전, Korea) to Various Art Forms

Author: Thao Nguyen Phuong (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Speaker: Thao Nguyen Phuong
Topic: Semiotics and Semiology
The GLOCAL CALA 2022 General Session

Abstract
Vietnamese and Korean comparative literary studies have shown correlations closely on subjects, themes, and socio-cultural contexts between the two masterpieces The Tale of Kiều (傳翹) – Nguyễn Du and The Story of Chunhyang (춘향전) as two narratives of “talented boys and beautiful girls”. These two narratives have been translated into many art forms in Vietnamese and Korean contexts. These transformative practices have shown huge capacities for regenerating and recontextualizing these two narratives. Firstly, based on similar correlations, this article clarifies translation capacities from verbal texts (The Tale of Kiều and The Story of Chunhyang) to non/multi-verbal ones, such as architecture, sculpture, painting, music, theater, and cinema. Secondly, quantitative analysis and statistics on translations/reproductions from the two original works to numerous target ones are also presented. Thirdly, the article thus gives comparisons and identifications on the successful level of some translations. Intersemiotic translation is used as a theoretical framework for analysis. The paper applies interdisciplinary research and the relationship and translation between art forms.

Keywords: The tale of kiều , The Story of Chunhyang , Talented boys and beautiful girls, Intersemiotic translation , Various Art Forms