식민지의 연속성 비판과 동아시아적 시각의 확장 - 김정한의 미발표작 「잃어버린 山所」와 일제 말의 ‘남양군도(南洋群島)’-

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to discuss the novels written by Yosan Kim Jeong-han who returned to the literary world in Korea in 1966 with 「The Sandbank Story」(「모래톱 이야기」) centering around his unpublished work, Lost Tomb(「잃어버린 山所」). Most of the works he wrote after returning have the end of Japanese Imperialism as their time background and highlight coloniality in the area around the Nakdong River. This was focused on criticizing the irony of our history that even after the emancipation, coloniality was still being reinforced while we were failing to liquidate pro- Japanese remains properly. Besides, as we can see it from the Korean-Japanese Agreement in 1965 and dispatch of troops to Vietnam, following the US-led East Asian policy, they accepted the US’ new imperialism indeed in return for their financial aid. He criticized Korea as an anti-independent and anti-ethnic country severely. Not only The Sandbank Story」(「모래톱 이야기」) but 「The Flatland」(「평지」), 「Surado」(「수라도」), 「Dwitgimi Naru」(「뒷기미 나루」), and 「Jiokbyeon」(「지옥변」) released afterwards all contain such consciousness of his on that matter. Criticizing the continuity of colonialism in Kim Jeong-han’s novels having the end of Japanese Imperialism as the background were getting more detailed as he broadened his views to East Asian perspectives. Since the Korean-Japanese Agreement and dispatch of troops to Vietnam conformed to the US’ strategies to gain supremacy in Asia, he thought we should regard our memory of imperialism and colonialism not just as a problem limited to our own country but as that of East Asia broadly. In fact, he deemed that the Third World’s solidarity was more important than anything else and paid keen attention to international solidarity among Asians sharing similar experiences. 「Sanseodong's Behind Story」(「산서동 뒷이야기」) and 「Letters from Okinawa」(「오끼나와에서 온 편지」) and also an unpublished unfinished work, Lost Tomb(「잃어버린 山所」) he wrote afterwards all reveal such consciousness of his most explicitly. Lost Tomb(「잃어버린 山所」) was written in the 1970’s and has the South Sea Islands at the end of Japanese Imperialism as the background. It is evaluated as the first work in the history of Korean novels stating facts about the laborers and comfort women sacrificed during the Pacific War realistically. So far, we have investigated Kim Jeong-han’s novels in nationalistic and local perspectives, and it is still valid partly; however, it reveals a clear limitation that we have trapped the horizons of his novels limitedly into the same time and space through the repetition of the same words. This study is significant in that it has tried to get over the limitation to read his novels with more extended East Asian viewpoint and open a new horizon for follow-up research on his novels.