Recounting War, Experience and Memory: The Representation of Space in Zainichi Literature During the Korean War

In the midst of the Korean War, Zainichi Korean author Kim Tal-su published two short stories, Son Yeong-gam (1951) and Pusan (1952), set in Japan and Korea, each depicting Korean protagonists. In its portrayal of the incidents that take place over the course of half a day in a small house where a married couple live in Busan, the text of Pusan makes abundant use of linguistic forms that serve to recreate, such as dialogue and onomatopoeia. The war in Korea, which the author did not experience first-hand, is a psychodrama that unfolds in a limited space. On the other hand, set in a Japanese naval port, the story of Son Yeong-gam takes place along a military road constructed by Koreans who had immigrated over before the war. Here, the Korean War overlaps with memories of the past war, and is recounted in a multi-layered time structure. These two short stories - one connecting Zainichi Korean literature to the homeland via imagination, the other depicting a people who’ve lived by cutting open space and stacking layers of time-show that Zainichi Korean literature encompasses the vivid history of the Korean diaspora.

關鍵字

Zainichi Korean literature ； Kim Tal-su ； Korean War ； spatial symbolism ； memory of war

並列摘要

韓戰期間，在日韓語作家金達壽出版了兩部短篇小說，〈宋老先生〉（1951）與〈釜山〉（1952），以日本與韓國為故事背景，各自描繪身為韓國人的主角。〈釜山〉描述住在釜山一棟小屋的夫婦，在半天的時間裡發生的事，〈釜山〉的文本大量運用語言學的形式──例如對話和擬聲法──來重現戰爭的情景。作者並未親身經歷的韓戰，是一場在無限空間中上演的心理劇。另一方面，以日本海軍軍港為背景的〈宋老先生〉，故事的情節沿著戰前移民日本的韓國人所興建的軍事道路進展。在這篇故事裡，韓戰與主角對昔日戰爭的記憶重疊，以多層次的時間結構一一敘述。這兩部短篇小說──前者是透過想像讓在日韓語文學與家鄉連結，後者描繪的是藉由開啟空間和堆砌一層層時間活下去的人──證明在日韓語文學涵蓋了韓國人流散異國的鮮明歷史。