Translation is a creative act, not a series of crude replacements. If you don’t believe this just yet, translating concrete poetry is actually a great place to start because the process will teach you to accept that you'll end up emphasizing some aspects and eliding others.
We can ask ourselves: What are the most defining features of a particular poem? Is it the shape and line length? Rhyme and wordplay? What else can we consider when translating a poem, especially a visual one?
In this two-day, four-hour intensive, students will see the poem “Space Boy Wearing a Skirt” by Lee Jenny (이제니 시인의 <치마를 입은 우주 소년>) in the original Korean, hear it being read in Korean by the author, and read a bridge translation before trying their hand at translating the poem.
This class is ideal for writers of all experience levels, especially poets, who enjoy experimenting with form or who would like to practice experimenting with form and who would like to learn more about the craft and ethics of translation. Students may share their work during the second day and receive oral feedback if they wish. Fluency in Korean is not required, though all interested students are encouraged to read “She knows too much: 'Bridge Translations,' 'Literal Translations,' and Long-Term Harm” by Jen Calleja and Sophie Collins before class begins.
One full-ride scholarship will be awarded for this class to a BIPOC writer. To apply, please send classes@catapult.co your bio and a brief (100-word) statement on why taking this class is important to you by August 15th, with the subject line "Soje Poetry Class Scholarship."
*If you’re enrolling in two or more Don’t Translate Alone classes, email us at classes@catapult.co and we’ll send you a coupon for 15% off each DTA class!
Class meetings will be held over video chat, using Zoom accessed from your private class page. While you can use Zoom from your browser, we recommend downloading the desktop client so you have access to all platform features.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
- Introduction to concrete poetry
-Familiarity with the craft and ethics of literary translation
- Encouragement to play and experiment with form
-10% discount on all future Catapult classes
COURSE EXPECTATIONS:
Students should expect to do two readings over the course of two days and be prepared to share their translations and give oral feedback to their peers during class time. Students should also have read “She knows too much: 'Bridge Translations,' 'Literal Translations,' and Long-Term Harm” by Jen Calleja and Sophie Collins before class begins.
COURSE SKELETON:
Day 1: 2 hours
Students briefly introduce themselves
Instructor reads the poem aloud in Korean and provides a transliteration as well as a ‘bridge’ translation
Instructor leads a brief discussion of “She knows too much” and the ethics of translation
Students discuss what they notice about the poem before spending the last 30 min drafting
HW: Read MPT workshop with Lee Jenny and come up with a draft to share on day 2
Day 2: 2 hours
Students share their drafts with the class and receive oral feedback
Soje is the translator of Lee Hyemi’s Unexpected Vanilla (Tilted Axis Press, 2020), Choi Jin-young’s To the Warm Horizon (Honford Star, 2021), and Lee Soho’s Catcalling (Open Letter Books, 2021). They also make chogwa, a quarterly e-zine featuring one Korean poem and multiple English translations. They served as Modern Poetry in Translation’s 2020 Writer in Residence.
“CATCALLING by Lee Soho is a playful, ferocious uprising against patriarchal order, and Soje is a rising star-translator of South Korea’s new wave of innovative feminist and queer poetry.”
“Soje is a talented writer whose insights are always delivered with eloquence and wit. They can make me laugh and cry in a single paragraph. I learn so much from their generous feedback, through which they not only offer concrete suggestions but also open up the possibility to be curious together.”
“While I've obviously benefited on numerous occasions from their life-saving editing, I've also learned an incredible amount from their translation practice in how they think and conduct themselves as a literary translator.”
“With Soje, translation doesn’t stay on the page. They bring people together to play and flirt and dance with languages. It is in equal parts party and poetry, leaving everyone a little wiser, freer, and downright gleeful.”
"The incessant fluidity of Lee Hyemi’s images in Soje’s careful, sensitive translation, sees Unexpected Vanilla explicitly dissolving these oppressive, fixed structures – ‘blurring the boundaries of the world.'"
“Adjectives like brilliant can’t do this collection justice. It’s the quick we try not to cut to; it’s everything—it razes and reimagines everything—and Soje's translation seizes all the opportunities it offers.”
