Literature in Translation: An interview with Anton Hur
May 1 2024
Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! To begin celebrating AAPI month, I decided to delve deep on a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: literature in translation. If I had to choose an all-time favorite literary genre, I would answer, “Korean and Japanese literature” without a doubt. If you’d asked me this question a few years ago, the answer would have been drastically different—that’s the beauty of growing as a reader! All of that said, when I had the opportunity to ask Anton Hur—my favorite literary translator out there!—a few questions about the world of translation, I was absolutely ecstatic, and I can’t wait to share his answers with you!
Meet Anton Hur
Combining two of his passions—books and translations—Anton has translated numerous novels from Korean to English, many of which you might have come across on social media or on Fable (including “Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung!). Having always loved books and being “a translator for as long as [he] had to make a living,” it only made sense to merge these two passions together. If you’re anything like me and have an entire shelf devoted to translated works, chances are you’ve come across some of Anton’s works! In that case, you will also be familiar with the unique writing style of the authors he chose to work with. Whether it be “Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung, “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki” by Baek Sehee, or a newer release like “A Magical Girl Retires” by Park Seolyeon, there’s something a bit edgier about their writing. “I’m mostly tired of the same kind of basic writers being promoted from Korea. The writers I’ve translated are edgier, and that’s kind of become my brand now,” Anton said.Many readers are aware that the literary translation market is quite small. Based on a 2023 estimate from UNESCO, there are about 600,000 translators working today—and these are not strictly literary translators, but “translators” period! With popular languages like English and French taking the lead, underrepresented languages like Korean deserve so much more attention from publishers.“The market is too small. Publishers need to publish more translations, especially from underrepresented languages like Korean,” Anton said.Advice for aspiring translators
I still remember how excited I was when I first heard that Anton was publishing his first novel, “Toward Eternity,” in July of this year. I was miraculously blessed by the ARC Gods and received a galley, and I cannot wait to jump into this haunting speculative novel. Negotiating the terrain of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun” and Emily St. John Mandel’s “Sea of Tranquility,” “Toward Eternity” seeks to answer the question: What does it mean to be human in a world where technology is quickly catching up to biology?Anton kindly shared a piece of advice for anyone aspiring to work in the literary translation field. “Be nice to everyone but also kill everyone, like, murder every single person you see. You’ll understand what I mean when you get here,” he said. Take this advice metaphorically, of course! You can find a full list of Anton’s works in the comments, along with a “Works in Translation” list!Keep reading on Fable
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