이창래의 『더 서렌더드』: 집단적 외상 인식과 치유 가능성 모색

Abstract

In The Surrendered, Chang-rae Lee shows his interest in the pain and agony of people who have survived the brutalities of the battlefield. This novel is about three people who have traumatic memories from war. June has an unforgettable memory of abandoning her younger brother, Ji-young, on the way of escaping to the South. Sylvie watched her parents and other people killed by Japanese soldiers in Manchuria. Hector participated in the Korean War as a soldier blaming himself over his father’s death and saw many soldiers killed in that war. The traumatic memories have affected their present lives and worked as a barrier to their living ordinary lives. However, through connecting the three protagonists, Ji-young and even Nicholas who is June and Hector’s son, Lee shows that the personal trauma is actually a collective trauma which the community is responsible for. Personal trauma can be recovered by the understanding of the community for the stricken individual. The fact that Hector is present at the moment of June’s death shows that June’s suffering from the traumatic memories can be understood by another survivor who has had the same experience in the community and recovered. Through their trauma, they have all in a sense surrendered themselves to the effects of a shared history and environment of war. In the end, the solution is not merely to survive but rather regain what they can of their former selves through understanding that fact both individually as well as collectively.