April 2021 Book Club Report: Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound

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April 2021 Translated Literature Book Club Meeting

April has been such a hectic month that before the last Saturday of the month approached, three of us were already wondering if we would be able to finish reading Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan’s 470-page Beauty is a Wound in time for book club. Two of us eventually couldn’t finish reading (it’s alright, book clubs shouldn’t make us feel that stressful! :D), and thankfully the other two ladies did and we could still hold a decent discussion over chilled sea salt chocolate drinks and berry ricotta hotcake at Curious Palette! 🙂 

Translated by Annie Tucker, Beauty is a Wound was originally published in Indonesian in 2002. It is set before WWII through most of the rest of the twentieth century, focusing on the rise and fall of Dewi Ayu’s family. What’s interesting is that Kurniawan has insisted, in interviews, that Beauty is a Wound is not a historical novel founded on Indonesia’s history, even though readers are able to identify obvious parallels between Dewi Ayu’s family history and Indonesia’s history.

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As we dived into the discussion, there’s no denying how sick, horrific, even farcical, the novel is—with aplenty scenes of rape, bestiality, incest, zoophilia. These scenes beg the question if they have been overdone; were they even necessary? Looking at the story as a whole, from start to end, we also wonder if these sexually violent scenes and political undertones reflect the impact of Dutch colonialism on generations and generations of Indonesians?

On the other hand, there’s also no denying the appeal in Kurniawan’s writing: setting the hook in the very first sentence of the novel, cliffhangers at the end of every chapter, incorporating scores of memorable and fascinating characters, opening a window for English-speaking readers into Indonesia’s  culture and history.

Here are some of the questions we discussed:

  • What are some of your favourite characters?

  • Do you see any parallel between Dewi Ayu’s family history and Indonesia’s history?

  • Why do you think the author integrated a significant number of sexually violent scenes in the novel?

  • How is Dewi Ayu’s character fascinating?

  • What do you like most about the novel?

May 2021 Book Club Selection 

There are countless translated books out there, but for the convenience of our book club members we will select only books with adequate copies in the NLB. 

For our May book club, we’ll be reading Japanese writer Fuminori Nakamura’s The Thief, translated by Stephen Coates.

If you’d like to join us, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more details about our next book club meeting!

*Harriett Press’s Translated Literature Book Club is a monthly book club that meets to exchange thoughts on a translated book selected for the month. Anyone is welcome to join us!⁠ Find out more about book club meetings by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!   

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Lizzie’s Translation Diary #1: The Translation Process

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The Translation Process

By Lizzie Buehler

When I began translating Korean literature six years ago, I felt very uncertain about the process of translation. I knew that I started with a Korean text, and my goal was to produce an elegant-sounding English equivalent (ignoring the fact that there are no true “equivalents” in literary translation). But it took me several years—until I finished my first book-length project, in fact—before I became comfortable with the movement from the initial Korean to the eventual English text. I now have a fairly standard translation process that I stick to regardless of what project I’m working on. This allows me to balance my translation work with my other obligations—my PhD coursework, my own writing, etc.—while still making progress. Sometimes, of course, I fall off course, but the following is the schedule I follow the majority of the time.

1. I start by translating a very rough draft of the Korean text into English. At this point, all I want at the end of the workday is English words on the page that convey all the information in the original Korean. They don’t have to sound good, or even be grammatically correct. They just need to exist. My standard quota per day is three pages. Sometimes I’ve already read the Korean text that I’m translating already, but more often I haven’t. I used to feel like this was a shameful secret I needed to hide, but then I read Spanish translator Gregory Rabassa’s quote about how doing so gives the “translation the freshness that a first reading would have.” I want to translate the text like I’m a reader, experiencing the story for the first time.

2. After I’ve translated a chapter-length segment of the book—usually around twenty or twenty-five pages—I go through what I’ve translated and make the sentences “sound good” in English. This is where I go over the English and compare it with the Korean, too, to make sure that I haven’t made any factual errors in my first draft. I try to go through three pages a day at this stage, too.

3. Once I’ve gone through the second draft of the chapter, I print it out and reread the physical copy, marking it up as I read. Then I made edits accordingly.

4. Now I sent the chapter to a trusted reader—usually a friend or classmate whose readerly opinion I trust—and get their comments. Then I implement those as well—at least, the ones I agree with.

5. Once I’ve implemented my outside reader’s opinions, I give the chapter one more read-over, and then I’m ready to send it off!

6. I start over with the next chapter, and continue with steps 1-5 until the book is finished.

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