A collection of Korean column writings in Sinhala
 

by Professor Sunanda Mahendra

"As a senior administrator in the public service of Sri Lanka, I had the chance of visiting South Korea once in 1995 to attend a seminar cum course of lessons on management, but it so came to pass that there was a certain lecture scheduled on the aspects of history and literature of that country, and I had the chance of attending that lecture delivered by a well-known scholar and a university Professor of English literature.

I also had the rare opportunity of meeting some of the distinguished scholars and artists of that country. Followed by the lecture the professor speaker handed over her collection of column writings contributed to an English newspaper known as Korea Herald from 1985 to 1988.

She presented her collection of these column writings published in a single volume to all the participants. The name of the professor concerned is one Choi Jin Young and her contribution of the column to the said newspaper had been titled 'one woman's way'. The same title had gone into the collection of the columns.

As a university graduate in languages and literature I am consistently drawn towards cross cultural traits, and with my retirement, I had the chance of devoting more of my time to those subjects. When I read some of the pages of this compilation, I felt that this is the type of book that should be translated during my leisure as a resourceful measure.

So this then is the result of that venture", declared the senior administrator cum scholar N. H. Perera (retired from the Ministry of Finance) handing over his translation of 128 short essay like columns compiled into a single volume titled in Sinhala as ek gahaniyakage maga (Godage 2005).

This then is the end result of his adventure in South Korea as an administrator, a good lesson for other administrators as well who have retired and about to retire. (Spend not then your gifts in vain!)

The contents of these columns revolve round many a subject that would interest any common Sinhala reader who so desires to gain a knowledge and information on such areas as arts and cultural issues not only relevant to Korea, but also to the entire region from a broader point of view.

Then there are insights into such areas as the consumerism (9) the need to inculcate social ethics (12) the issues of dowry (32) the medical ethics (93) the sound pollution (116) Books: food for the mind (177) the media and the message (143) bridging the gender gap (255) the adverse effects of the use of harsh words (278) women's liberation (272) helping the children to think and bringing up of children in a better climate (344) humour in retrospect (329) issues of suicides (362) and many more areas of interest perhaps written with a certain degree of commitment taking into account facts and figures and a minimum tinge of statistics.

The professor columnist is seen at her best when it comes to issues of learning and teaching where she cites examples to show the necessity to train teachers and parents long before they lay down rigid methods to children. What one should do to understand the importance of spending the leisure in a better manner as against the stress is highlighted in a number of columns.

The wedding customs and their relevance in the modern life, meeting the challenges of the old age, new women of Korea too are also stressed as important issues to be discussed in a wider perspective.

The column writing is now regarded in the media structure as a specialist function and as far as possible specialists of the respective fields of study write them. This pronouncement comes from the well-known source 'The American Encyclopaedia of Journalism' by Paneth.

It looks as if the mission of the original writer, Choi Jin-Young who knows two languages [English and Korean] had been an investigative attitude towards various happenings around her in a very sensitive eye-opening manner in the light of the knowledge she had gained via literary scholarship.

Though I had not read these columns in English I see that the translator Perera makes the reader feel the pulse of each issue as if the things are happening around us at home right at this moment of time.

The original writer Young in her preface to the English collection [as found in the Sinhala translation of Perera] had been a journey of rediscovery of humans and the social interaction with special reference to Korea and the fact that her voice has been allowed to be heard and expressed had been the central mission in the contribution of these columns to a newspaper.

Furthermore, she stresses that she had been a keen observer of experiences around her on such aspects from the point of view of a mother, wife, and a university don.

The striking point as I see is the diversity of her subject range and the reflections that transcend the barriers of narrowness limited to a particular group of readers.

She utilizes a narrative style of expression on communicating some of the intimate issues such as the need to understand the differences and similarities of social and family bonds that extend the national and racial barriers.

She selects the issue of partiality (pakshagrahi) a subject closer to us as a social malady and shows how much harm it could bring about as an unliberated force detrimental to the well being of individuals ([see p298-300)].

Most columns are quite brief and reminds me of the well-known columns of Art Buchwald and Alistair Cooke, to name two of my favourites. Presumably this collection of translated material from English columns bearing a Korean flavour comes as the first in its genre to the local field of Journalism and Mass Communication and other allied subject areas such as Sociology, Philosophy and Literature.

[email protected]

..................................

<< Artscope Main Page