Bruce Fulton

Life

Fulton received his BA in philosophy from Bowdoin College in 1970, his master's degree in Korea Regional Studies, from the University of Washington in 1983, and his Ph.D. in Modern Korean Literature from Seoul National University

Fulton and his wife met at Seoul National University in 1978, while Fulton was volunteering in the Peace Corps. They married in 1979 and eventually realized that together they were "the ideal translation team," as Bruce was a native speaker of English who knew Korean, and Ju-Chan was a native speaker of Korean who knew English.

Fulton is the inaugural holder of the Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation in the Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia. Fulton has also won several awards, including Korea's Daesan Foundation's translation prize.

Work

Fulton has translated novels, such as Cho Se-hui’s "The Dwarf," and collections including Land of Exile, The Red Room and Lost Souls: Stories by Hwang Sunwon. One of Fulton's more recent translation is River of Fire and Other Stories by O Chonghui which contains nine stories, written from 1968 to 1994, describing family dysfunction, the decline of tradition, and lost love from a woman's perspective. Recently, he has translated The Future of Silence", which uses some stories by older writers and stories by newer writers such as Kim Sagwa, Han Yujoo, Kim Ae-ran, and Cheon Un-yeong. His most recent translation is The Human Jungle by Cho Chongnae.

In this role as translator, Fulton is quick to note that he almost always works in partnership with his wife Ju-Chan Fulton.

As a Professor, Fulton works in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia where he teaches modern Korean literature, and researches modern Korean fiction and its translation.

Translations

Biography