오키나와 반환을 통해 살펴보는 오키나와 문학 ‒『떠도는 류큐인』과 『칵테일 파티』를 중심으로‒

Abstract

『Samayoeru ryuukyuujin』, published in 1926, was a work that indirectly conveyed the life of Okinawans during the period of ‘Sotetsu Hell’, but it wasn’t until 1970, before returning to Okinawa after it was withdrawn from the official media in protest of the ‘Okinawa Youth Alliance’. It is reprinted again. The protagonist explains that Okinawa's economic difficulties expressed in the work are due to the policy of the mainland, which overlaps with the reality of Okinawa, which is about to return to the mainland in 1972, and calls for the awareness of the mainland Japanese. It is clear that at a time when the expectations of the Okinawans who wished to be returned to the “mainland level without nuclear weapons” were gradually fading, the need for reprinting as a process for establishing a new relationship was discussed again by reviewing the relationship between Okinawa and the mainland. The 『Cocktail Party』 announced in 1967 also needs to be considered in the flow of historical events of return to Okinawa. This work, the first Akutagawa Prize-winning work in the Okinawa Paragraph, deals with the issue of sexual violence by the US military as its main subject, and can be dealt with in the context of the anti-war movement and the movement to return to the mainland during the same period. In particular, the issue of the US military’s territorial occupation and the unreasonable US military trial process, which are dealt with in the work, attracts political attention and results in public debate on the issue of US military bases. The return to Okinawa in 1972 ultimately failed to make any progress regarding the reduction of US military bases and the removal of nuclear weapons, which the Okinawans demanded. However, it can be seen that 『Samayoeru ryuukyuujin』 and 『Cocktail Party』 formed part of the discourse derived from the process of return..