梶山季之と金嬉老─「俺は半島人―小説⋅金嬉老」論

Abstract

In 1930, Kaziyama Toshiyuki, a writer, was born in Gyeongseong of Joseon. Right after Japan was defeated in the Second World War, he went back to Japan. From when earlier than any other writers who were also born and grew up in Joseon, he created literary works about experiences of the colonial era. In particular, “I am a man from a peninsulaㅡNovel⋅Kim Heero” is a suggestive literary work considering the fact that its story is about the Korean Japanese of the post-war era and the continuity of colonialism. “Kim Heero case” is an accident that happened on February 2nd, 1968. Korean Japanese Kim Heero killed 2 gangsters because they constantly chased him for debt he owed to them. After that, he held 13 people hostage at a near hot-spring and held his ground against the police. Then, he demanded apologies from gangsters and a police officer for evil deeds and scornful remarks about the Korean Japanese respectively. After the incident -social issue of that time- took place, the media was divided into two: Defence for Kim Heero and Criticism about him. However, when comparing and analyzing it with other contemporary media remarks and the authorization issue of Joseon University, in “I am a man from a peninsula- Novel⋅Kim Heero”, not only the problem relating to Japanese perpetrators but also that of Korean Japanese perpetrators are closely looked into. Kaziyama Toshiyuki had the mind of perpetrator for colonialism and that of victim as a returnee at the same time. His work “I am a man from a peninsula- Novel⋅Kim Heero” was not carried away by either defence or criticism about Kim Heero and shed light on the “self-responsibility” awareness that was inherent in the Korean Japanese. Therefore, this literary work deserves to be reevaluated in Korea where Kim Heero is heroized.