Beyond Text: Illustration as Translation in Soviet and North Korean Children’s Literature

• In Event: Decentered Perspectives on Illustration from the Imperial and Soviet Eras

Abstract

Throughout history, the profound bond between the Soviet Union and North Korea has been apparent. While North Korea has often regarded the Soviet Union as a guidebook in their process of strengthening the communist state, the Soviet Union considered North Korea as a brother country of communism and made a point of providing support. Although many researchers from political science, sociology, and area studies have studied on the interactions between the Soviet Union and North Korea, literary studies’ focus on children’s literature in both the Soviet Union and North Korea has been relatively rare. My research pays attention to the fact that the Soviet Union and North Korea engaged in active interaction through the translation and dissemination of each other’s children’s literature in the 1950-60s. This reciprocal exchange extended to the realm of illustrations, and consequently, illustrations accompanying children’s literature traversed borders, sometimes being replicated by copy machines or artists, while other times, artists adapted existing templates to create new imagery. My research focuses on the concept of illustration as a form of translation, examining the techniques and trends employed in translating illustrations between the Soviet Union and North Korea, and uncovering the underlying purposes and motivations shaping these translation practices.

Author

• Sooyeon Lee, U of Toronto (Canada)