Dutch scholar completes landmark translation of Samguk Yusa
A few decades ago, Korean studies was often treated as an afterthought and viewed as a sub-discipline to Chinese and Japanese studies. Today, a landmark complete English translation of one of Korea’s most important medieval texts is proving how dynamic and indispensable Korean history is to the global literary landscape. At the heart of this milestone is Remco Breuker, a professor of Korean…
For decades, Korean studies was often overlooked and considered a secondary field, subsumed under Chinese and Japanese studies. However, a significant breakthrough in the realm of Korean history has emerged with the completion of an English translation of a medieval Korean text of considerable importance. This monumental achievement is the work of Remco Breuker, a professor of Korean Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands and an esteemed European scholar of pre-modern Korean history.
Joining Professor Breuker in this endeavor were two other scholars, one of whom held a teaching relationship with Breuker himself. Together, they translated Samguk Yusa, also known as Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, a 570-page text published by the University of Hawaii Press, and titled Vestiges of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea.
The Samguk Yusa is a compilation of oral histories and legends from the period of the Three Kingdoms and earlier, primarily authored by the Buddhist monk Iryeon in the late Goryeo period. This first-ever complete and fully annotated English translation of this 13th-century classic signifies a major step towards recognizing the richness and relevance of Korean history on the global literary stage.
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- Dutch scholar completes landmark translation of Samguk Yusa koreatimes.co.kr
