김사량과 여성-중일전쟁기 일본어 소설을 중심으로

Abstract

This article examines the representation of Korean women in the Japanese works of Kim Saryang (1914~1950?), who, well known as a “Japanese-language writer,” published numerous works in Japan between 1939 and 1941, during the Sino-Japanese War. Japanese-language works published by Korean writers at the end of the colonial period have historically been regarded as irrelevant to discussions of the militaristic fascism of Imperial Japan. Recently, however, these writings have begun to be discussed as works that reveal the formation of a colonial Korean “national subject”(kungmin), which was at odds with that found in the “national literature” of Imperial Japan. I specifically focus on how the thematic of the “national subject” in these works is primarily discussed as a problem for male characters. In Kim’s masterpiece, “Into the Light” (1939.10), we can see the challenges male Korean characters face surrounding the problem of the “national subject,” however, in the face of these issues, the stories of the various Korean women depicted in this text recede into the background. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that following the publication of “Into the Light,” Kim published several stories that focus on female characters. This article examines the meaning of female representation in Kim’s Japanese works and how his representation of Korean women changed over time. First, by focusing on the female characters in works like “Into the Light,” which depicts the issue of the Korean “national subject,” we can see that, unlike the protagonist/narrator, the female characters’ dialogues are written in “dialect.” The “dialect” of the female characters may be interpreted as playing a role in highlighting the problem of the “national subject” of the colonized Koreans, in contrast to the “standard language” (Japanese/“national language”) of the protagonist/narrator, a male Korean. However, the female characters in these works also show an active side, placing the issues of the “national subject” and the lives of other women, a feature that is more evident in Kim Saryang’s 1941 work. Second, I analyze the lives of the various female characters depicted in these works by focusing on the works that Kim Saryang published around 1941 which focus on Korean women (“Gopdanne”, “Wollyeo”, “Tenshi(Angel)”, and “Yome(daughter-in-law)”). By focusing on the representation of Korean women in the writings of Korean writers in the late colonial period, which have previously been evaluated as depicting only the problems surrounding Korean men as “national subjects,” we can approach these works in a novel way. From 1939 to 1941, Kim’s Japanese works gradually addressed issues related to the diverse lives of Korean women. This may be interpreted as a connection to Kim’s interest in class issues and Korean migrant workers in Imperial Japan, as he gradually became interested in them through his trials and errors of writing for both Korean and Japanese audiences. Kim Saryang’s decision to present works on women, class, and Korean migrant workers during the Sino-Japanese War period may have been an attempt to see new possibilities for those who were not included in the “national subject”.