Why did Odysseus come home in beggar’s rags… The interpretation of the translator who completed a full translation of the Greek original after 22 years - 경향신문

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Professor Kim Heon of the Institute for Humanities at Seoul National University, met at Eulyoo Publishing in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. He has published <Odysseia>, a complete translation of the Ancient Greek original produced over 22 years. Kwon Do-hyun, Reporter

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is in many ways an unlikely protagonist for a great ancient epic. Compared with Achilles, who also fought in the Trojan War, his physical might is unimpressive. Even on the way back to the home where his family awaits, he falls into all sorts of temptations and delays his return. Perhaps lacking charisma as a leader, his men frequently disobey royal commands.

Nevertheless, Odysseus remains an immortal protagonist. Recently at Eulyoo Publishing in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Professor Kim Heon of the Seoul National University Institute for Humanities said that Odysseus is “a hero who is hard to call a hero.”

“Let us compare Homer’s <Iliad> and <Odyssey>. The heroes of the <Iliad> are traditional heroes. They shine brilliantly, display martial feats, and are figures who will stake their lives to rise to the level of gods. Odysseus returns home in rags. It completely overturns the traditional ideal of a hero.”

This is the ‘everyday-ization’ of the hero: someone who does not seem so exceptional, a person just like us ordinary people.

“Yet Odysseus behaves differently from most humans in situations where anger is inevitable, in despairing moments when his very being seems to be nothing. A true hero is not so much a figure that shines with excellence as one who, even in darkness, does not lose himself and in the end finds his place and his name. More important than being a son of a god or possessing outstanding abilities is overcoming comfort and sloth and setting out, step by step, toward home. If the heroes of the <Iliad> are to be looked up to, the hero of the <Odyssey> is someone in whom I can reflect the way I live.”

The <Odysseia> he recently published is a complete translation from Ancient Greek. The title is rendered in a notation close to the ancient pronunciation. He began translating in 2004 along with the <Iliad>, so it took 22 years. When Eulyoo Publishing approached him, Kim promised “to finish within three years,” but in the end it took longer than the time Odysseus spent going to war and returning home. Eulyoo planned to assign <Iliad> and <Odysseia> to numbers 1 and 2 in its newly launched World Literature series, but in the meantime those numbers went to Thomas Mann’s <The Magic Mountain>, vols. 1 and 2.

The hallmark of Kim’s <Odysseia> is a literal rendering that preserves the original. He kept ‘diaphragm’ as is, a word that had usually been paraphrased as wisdom, discernment, or mind. For example, when the suitor Antinous fails to recognize Odysseus and hurls abuse, Odysseus says, “Your diaphragm does not suit your appearance.” Expressions like “What words slip out from you, the fence of your teeth,” and inversions that clash with Korean word order are also features of Kim’s version. At first it feels unfamiliar; as you read, it feels fresh and then grows familiar. Kim said, “I thought there was no point in publishing something in a way similar to other translations. If the late Cheon Byeong-hee, on whose work I relied when studying, increased readability to be considerate to readers, I tried to bring out the rough and vigorous side of Homeric verse.”

“Oral literature accumulates words as they are heard, completing images. That is why, in translating, I kept the word order just as the poet originally used it. When I considered whether it is more considerate to readers to make it read smoothly, or to preserve Homer’s strangeness and vividness, I chose the latter. If existing translations are like sitting comfortably in a room in front of a fan, then mine is like boarding a pitching boat and feeling the wind of the Aegean.”

A scene from Christopher Nolan’s film <Odyssey>. Homer’s Odysseus is a hero who defies the heroic mold. Courtesy of Universal Pictures

As oral literature, the traits of the <Odysseia> also live on in Christopher Nolan’s hit film <Odyssey>. So does the scene in which rapper Travis Scott appears as a bard and sings of the Trojan War. Kim said, “Nolan is like a Homer of the 21st century. I watched with great admiration.”

“In particular, I was moved by the latter part in which he rediscovers his home and his name. The scenes in which he meets the dog Argos and then his wife Penelope were vivid and, in an analog way, well realized.”

Above all, alongside the film’s popularity, interest has grown in Western classics, a field that had been marginalized in academia, and Kim said he was “deeply moved.” Barriers posed by Greek and Latin and a lack of institutional guarantees keep outstanding talent from entering the academy. Kim said, “Classical studies are like a natural monument on the verge of disappearing. I hope that, like Nolan, more people will connect the classics with today’s issues and pose questions so that interest will grow.”

On the 18th at Eulyoo Publishing in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Professor Kim Heon, who published <Odysseia> after fully translating Ancient Greek over more than 20 years, is interviewed by the Kyunghyang Shinmun. Kwon Do-hyun, Reporter

Kim said that his study of the classics helped not only his scholarship but also his life. He added that the publication of the <Odysseia> goes beyond a translation project to overlap with his life’s journey. When someone asked, ‘Where is your Ithaca?’ he replied, ‘This translation is my Ithaca.’

“The classics do not give answers; they pose questions. The points that felt strange as you read stand out and get thrown at the problems of my life. The person questioned must think through life and seek the answer. Answers can vary by era and by individual circumstances, but the questions do not change.”

Kim is also accelerating his translation of the <Iliad>. He says it will not take another 22 years. He said, “As early as next year, or at the latest the year after next, I intend to finish.”