시모무라 지아키(下村千秋)의 『통한가도(痛恨街道)』에 나타난 한국전쟁 표상

Abstract

The Representation of the Korean War in Shimomura Chiaki’s “Heart Break Highway” Cho, JooHee This paper analyzes the representation of the Korean War in Shimomura Chiaki’s “Heart Break Highway.” Through the perspective of the protagonist, who has endured Japan’s modern wars and its defeat, the author recounts the personal and familial misfortunes of a character named “Aigo.” In doing so, the work reveals that for those burdened with the internalized trauma of accumulated war experiences, war becomes an arbitrary and unpredictable form of cataclysmic violence, serving as an object of terror and delusion that looms with the constant threat of recurrence. Through Aigo’s relentless flight, even after losing an eye and becoming partially paralyzed, the author amplifies the sense of dread and revulsion towards war. His fear serves to heighten the narrative’s portrayal of war not as a distant, abstract event occurring across the sea, but as an imminent and palpable threat that could, at any moment, traverse the “Heart Break Highway” and engulf Japan in its devastating wake. The discourse on the Korean War within Korea has primarily been understood as a subject of divided or national literature. Writers have engaged in writing that resists violence, and readers have empathized with and inherited the pain and misery of historical reality. However, the perception of the Korean War from this close perspective is somewhat limited by being confined within the ‘Korean boundary’ of being Korean or part of the Korean nation, making it insufficient to universalize the experience. Thus, I sought to contemplate it from a broader perspective by examining the Korean War as depicted in Japanese literature. Thus, through this work, we are able to examine the Korean War from an external perspective, despite it being the same subject. Through this oscillation between internal and external perspectives, the overall image of the Korean War takes on a more comprehensive and complex form, expanding its scope and deepening in significance.