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The Korea Times

By Kim Ji-soo
The bookshelves in Brother Anthony’s crowded workspace in western Seoul near Sogang University have more space – a lot more – than when this writer last visited more than a decade ago.
“I donated around 1,000 books to Oxford [University] about two years ago,” he says.
Sogang University is where Brother Anthony spent more than two decades teaching after arriving in Korea in 1980.

Oxford University is where he studied from 1960 to 1969, earning his PhD in medieval and modern languages.
He also spent nearly 10 years upholding reconciliation as a member of the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic community in France’s Burgundy region.
Originally from Cornwall in southwest England, Brother Anthony, 82, over the years has become a naturalised citizen of South Korea, and has taken the Korean name An Son-jae.
He has also become a renowned translator of Korean poetry and several novels, as part of the first generation of foreign translators of Korean literature in Korea.
“Professorship stops, and stopped at a point for me, but translation continues,” he says. “It’s my hobby and I enjoy it.”
Nobel is not for beautiful writing. It is more about contemporary anguish […] the Swedish people like that. Han Kang, that’s her thing. The Swedish Academy likes that but most people don’t.
Brother Anthony on Han Kang’s Nobel Prize for Literature
“I like translating. Translating is interesting,” he said. “I also translated French literature into English in France for about 10 years. Translating is the transmission of something of one language or culture into another.”
His work is receiving renewed attention after Korean writer Han Kang received this year’s Nobel Prize in literature.
In a way, Brother Anthony could have had a chance to deal more directly with a Korean writer’s possible Nobel win earlier, as he has translated many of the Korean poet Ko Un’s poems before. Ko was mentioned in the shortlist numerous times as a possible recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature.












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Brother Anthony says the Swedish Academy likes to keep people guessing about possible candidates without saying why or how they select the winners, and Ko happens to be one of the names sent through this rumour mill.
Having served as a judge for The Korea Times’ Korean Literature Translation Awards since 1996, and having won the top prize for his translation of Ko’s poem Headmaster Abe in 1991, Brother Anthony is more than qualified to speak about literary translation.
“Nobel is not for popularity or for beauty or for beautiful writing. It is more about trouble, contemporary anguish […] the Swedish people like that. Dark, anguished, problematic. Han Kang, that is what she is writing about, human anguish and alienation, that’s her thing,” he says. “The Swedish Academy likes that but most people don’t.”
The Korean poetry that a Korean poet writes is different from the way American or British poets write their poetry
Brother Anthony
He adds that Han had everything she needed to earn the Nobel Prize in literature. “The Swedish people choose a writer not necessarily popular or respected. Han is also a woman and a relatively young writer,” he says.
However, he questions how an award can suddenly thrust a writer into the spotlight, remarking that it was pitiable when asked about Han’s Nobel win.
“How many thousand good writers are there in the world? Who can summarily choose one, and put them in the spotlight and give them money as if people should recognise them?” he says.

By cautioning against Nobel hype in Korea, Brother Anthony also focused on how Koreans have been spending less time reading, especially poetry. “People need to have an imaginative capacity or sensibility to read problematic works, you have to be prepared,” he says.
This year marks a personal milestone for him. In the first half of 2024, he received the Manhae Prize for Literature – awarded to those who promote peace around the world – jointly with poet Kim Yong-taek.
Translation is a complex operation, he says, because Korean poetry is written for Korean readers, and in a way reflects Koreans’ relationship with their own language.
Koreans always say it has to be close to the original faithful translation. But readability is the only thing that counts
Brother Anthony
“The Korean poetry that a Korean poet writes is different from the way American or British poets write their poetry. Because Koreans are Koreans. The relationship that Koreans have with their language is not the same as that of Americans and British towards their languages,” he says.
“It’s about being Korean, with links to the Korean psyche, which is a psyche of deep trauma, from history. The older generation knows it and the younger generation may not, but will more or less have inherited it.”
He sees the older generation cry when folk singer Jang Sa-ik sings. “I think Koreans are happy when they cry,” he says jocularly.
In an interview two years ago, Brother Anthony said that sentiment is the “heung (joy) in han (regret)”, and the “han in heung”.
Brother Anthony acknowledges that “the Nobel Prize is a recognition” for Korean work, as aspiring writers have long thought that they had to write in English for a global nod. The heightened interest in K-pop, K-films and K-dramas has raised up Korean fiction, too, he believes.

Several decades ago, he had translated Yi Mun-yeol’s The Poet in Britain. It was published through a well-known publisher and people liked it, he says. “At the time, it was too Korean, when at that time people didn’t know much about Korea or care to know about it.”
That we are living in the age of global literature where people are interested in buying and reading works from all over the world helps Korean literature gain more awareness, he says.
Greater recognition can drive more demand for Korean literature. Yet he is sceptical about modern writers in Korea. He encourages younger writers to create sincere, authentic works that are engaging and worthy of future translation.
“There should also be beauty of something, in narrative or writing style […] in their work,” he says. “I can only translate what I think is worth translating. Creating authentic, sincere works are the top tasks for future writers.”


He calls himself lucky and happy to live in Korea and continue working on translation. He will publish in English the works of labour poet Song Kyung-dong and those of Jeong Ho-seung in the United States next year. He will soon start work on popular Korean poet Na Tae-joo as well.
He believes that a good translation is one that readers don’t perceive as a translation.
“They read it as a poem or they read it as a novel – as an English poem or English novel,” he says.
“Koreans always say it has to be close to the original faithful translation. But readability is the only thing that counts.”
Read the full story at The Korea Times.


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Books and literature

Translator of Korean literature on the tricky task of conveying writers’ words in English

Korean literature translator and naturalised South Korean citizen Brother Anthony says “readability is all that counts” when it comes to translation. Photo: Instagram/@notsokoreanpodcast

Brother Anthony, aka An Son-jae, is a renowned translator of Korean literature. Photo: Wikipedia/Ccmontgom

South Korean author Han Kang, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, in Seoul, in October 2024. Photo: AFP

The cover of Yi Mun-yeol’s The Poet, which Brother Anthony translated in Britain decades ago. Photo: Harvil Panther

Korean poet Song Kyung-dong, whose work, translated by Brother Anthony, will be released in the US next year. Photo: Instagram/@koreanlitnow

The cover of Jeong Ho-seung’s poetry book Loving, translated by Brother Anthony and to be released in the US next year. Photo: Instagram/@kbs_korea24

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Award-winning translator Brother Anthony ponders Nobel Prize hype and the complexities of translating Korean poems and novels into English


Award-winning translator Brother Anthony ponders Nobel Prize hype and the complexities of translating Korean poems and novels into English.


South Korea

Korea Times

Nobel Prize