Jinsil Choi

10.18399/acta.2021.24.2.001

Archival research reception religious translation missionary translator's identity

This article examines the influential Presbyterian missionary translator James Scarth Gale (1863–1937) and explores how his religious views and the social context of his mission influenced his translation practice. It also considers factors of reception, such as how his awareness of the potential readership may have influenced his translation practice. Of his many literary translations, this study focuses on Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghost, and Fairies, published in 1913, and “The Life of the Buddha,” completed in 1915. Drawing on the notion of translation stylistics and relying on archival research, it explores how Gale modulated and consolidated Korean folk beliefs and Buddhist concepts through a Christian lens, based on a comparative analysis of source texts and translations. It argues that Gale’s conceptual equation of indigenous beliefs with Christianity had significant implications for Korea missionary activities and Korean literature.