This study focused on identifying Won-Il Kim's literature of the division of Korea, starting from criticizing that previous studies are too much inclined to fragmentary analysis on his literary work and has little diachronic and synchronic consideration. And this will be done with reviewing his most...
This study focused on identifying Won-Il Kim's literature of the division of Korea, starting from criticizing that previous studies are too much inclined to fragmentary analysis on his literary work and has little diachronic and synchronic consideration. And this will be done with reviewing his most important work from 《A red sky》 in 1970s to 《An accordion》in 2000.
For this purpose, this study will review the concept and the category of the literature of the division, and then look into the context of social discourse on his work, examining the significance of his work of literature. It is summarized as follows.
The chapter III looks into the social discrimination of proletarian classes Sam-jo Kim represents which is described in 《A red sky》 as the cause of the territorial division after the liberation of Korea. The fragmentary exhibition of the conflict between the classes is the one of the forms of people's resentment. So we can understand the popular psychology through this part. And the writer described the reconciliation between the father and the son (speaker of the novel) in the name of the nation who had experienced the resentment during 29 years including the 1948's event and the 1970's Yushin, ruminating father's life. It is possible to notice that the distance between the father and the son was adjusted by crossing the point of time, which is the method that the writer was constantly attempting.
The chapter IV reconfigures the large-scale massacre in Geochang through the novel 《Winter valley》 which created a sensation in 1990. Seemingly, the Syngman Rhee's hard line towards the communists seemed to make it happen, but the underlying cause of the massacre was the ideological confrontation of cold war. And the innocent people were sacrificed by this conflict. As the result of this ideological confrontation that made the people divided into the mountain (left) and the village (right), the innocent people were slaughtered, which makes us know that the human is not only a cause of tragic division of territory but also a solution to overcome the division. Consequently this scene of sacrifice became a witness of the history. We can define the 1980's as a "politicide" which means a "political massacre", and this has the ideological link to 5·18 movement. While the 5·18 movement played a role of ethical awakening the Korean popular movement through the ruined people, 《Winter valley》 played a role of ethical awakening through the sacrificed people. These two events were a kind of a watershed on Korean history, and people related 5·18 movement and people in 《Winter valley》 were identified as a communist, so these were a typical form of the violation of the government. 《Winter valley》 witnesses the infringement upon human right done by the name of the "anticommunism", criticizing regnant powers who repressed the people's will and sacrificed the people. This destroyed the taboo on that period: the "anticommunism." Won-Il Kim tried to reveal the inconsistency of the cause of the division, witnessing the people's suffering.
The chapter V traced the root of the division, examining situation from the libration of Korea to October 1950 through 《The festival of fire》 which is regarded as his masterpiece. The views on the cause of the division are usually categorized into the view of intrinsic factor and the view of extrinsic factors. 《The festival of fire》 looks into the land reform and suggested the cause of the division through each character's dialogues. That is, 《The festival of fire》 provides a kind of comprehensive view on that. And 《The festival of fire》 seeks to overcome the division through the characters reactions in the side of the people. First, there is a care of other people who have a complex. Second, there is an awakening from the bottom. Third, there is a positive self training. This shows that we should help the people who feel more severely hurt, which represents the people's voice. Finally, there is a warning that we should careful not to have a blind acceptance of ideology and this also shows that the community spirit has be urgently restored. Andthere is a character who has both ideological experience, and the vision of reconciliation in the basis of orthodoxy of the one nation through this character. 《The festival of fire》 offered a multifocal point that has an open sight on the cause and overcoming which had not existed previously.
The chapter VII deals with the reunion of the dispersed family membership the changed situation after the fall of the USSR and Eastern Europe. 《In the search tor disillusion》 let us sympathized the dispersed family members' pain through the communist father's note. 《In the search tor disillusion》 shows three different views, asserting that the dispersed family members are the most urgent problem to solve for overcoming the division in the view of the people and making it clear that this problem should be solved on the humanitarian basis not on the politics. And we can notice the writer's intention to offer ahope for the restoration of a nation's homogeneity through the communist father Jung-lyul Park's note.
And 《An accordion》requested the magnanimity towards the prisoners who denies the conversion from a communist to liberalism. This was done by three different spectrums; first, there is an grandfather's younger brother who denies the conversion from a communist to liberalism; second, the grandfather's younger brother and the grandfather are all the victims of the division; third, there is an inconsistency of anticommunism internalized in our society which is represented by Jumsul Hwang's victimization.
While 《In the search tor disillusion》 shows that the legacy of division existing in two generation, 《An accordion》shows that the legacy of division existing in three generation. We can also find that the grandfather's generation is emotional and the father is the generation of anticommunism while the grandson has a more objective view because he didn't experience it indirectly. Through these legacies, Won-Il Kim suggests that the peaceful days represented by《An accordion》have to be restored.
Based on the review above, the significance of Won-Il Kim's work of literature is as follows.
First, Won-Il Kim dealt with the reinterpretation and reassessment of anticommunism in Korea which had been a taboo. He described communistsas angry insurgents caused by social discrimination in 《A red sky》, victims sacrificed by ideological confrontation in 《Winter valley》, a confident man speaking the people's will in 《The festival of fire》, declining man with shaking conviction in 《In the search tor disillusion》, a man of integrity who is ready to die in 《An accordion》. Although this is partly because of the changes in social situation, he also intended to be a neutral position describing the advanced image of communist which had been internalized by anticommunism.
Second, Won-Il Kim offered humanism as a channel connecting the left and right. Sam-jo Kim in 《A red sky》 committed himself to the communism which promised the world without discrimination for him and his family, but actually he had to enforce his family to give up their hometown. And the captain Song in 《Winter valley》 did an ironic behavior; for the sake of the world for the people, he went to the war which would make the people suffered. Min-se Cho in 《The festival of fire》 was engaged on communist party without caring for his family. Jung-lyul Park in 《In the search tor disillusion》 betrayed his family for his ideological belief. Kwang-su Park in 《An accordion》killed his agent for his anticommunism. They were all the fathers who made their family suffered since they, at least once, dreamed the communist's utopia. However, Won-Il Kim wanted to show that they are all very weak people who were drawn into the whirlpool of the history. And Won-Il Kim suggested that humanism is needed which overcomes the ideologies.
Third, Won-Il Kim took a neutral and objective stance. One of the features of his work is crossing narration; time is crossed in 《A red sky》, space and speaker are crossed in 《Winter valley》 , time and space were crossed in 《The festival of fire》, spatial boundary is extended to North Korea in 《In the search tor disillusion》 and in 《An accordion》. North Korea is a space of past memories in 《An accordion》, while North Korea is the present time in 《In the search tor disillusion》. This crossing method is a kind of strategy that helps to adopt diverse views from different time, different space, and different speakers. So Won-Il Kim provides the chance to see the truth itself.
Forth, Won-Il Kim examines the division not from the persons who were in the core of the division and the war but from the general people who were widely exposed by the war. Won-Il Kim didn't set the heroic character but he chose the general people so that he could have an objective and neutral perspective. He described a living character, and this presented his belief that the people are the world. For instance, the characters in 《A red sky》, 《Winter valley》, 《The festival of fire》, 《In the search tor disillusion》, 《An accordion》were the best characters that could have the view of the people.
According to the above examinations, we can understand that Won-Il Kim's work of literature is more oriented to the lives of the people rather than the ideology, homogeneity rather than heterogeneity, and reconciliation and humanism rather than hostility.
Although the literature of the division had to have disabled parts due to the ideological limitation, the literature of the division itself is valuable because it contains our lives during 60 years of division. And it is our property of literature. Literature is a reflection of society, so we can accumulate the property of literature through the exchanges between North and South. And Won-Il Kim's literature provides the more adequate view on the division, overcoming the previous crippling works of literature.
In this respect, the literature of the division has to focus on not only the restoration of homogeneity but also the interpretation of the cause of the division and the removing the barriers in reunification. And we also need to extend subject matters to the legacies of the division remaining in the present. And the ultimate goal is to be the establishing the proper perception of the division which is helpful to the reunification. Furthermore, the goal of the literature of the division should not be limited to the reunification itself, but have to contain the people's will which is future oriented. Then, this will of the people can be the driving force that will enable us to overcome many things even after the reunification. With this, the literature of the division will be able to remain after the reunification as a national property.
As pointed out, Won-Il Kim's work is not of emotion but of power, and not of simple reality but of critical reality. He described how the division destroyed the lives of people and showed the lives wrecked by the ideological confrontation. What is afraid of most is the one simple social mechanism that violates the freedom of individuals. Ultimately his orientation is humanism.
The division of Korea is not limited to this region. This is in the series of similar problem prevailed in the world. How we identify the 20th century is same as how we see the 21th century.
Therefore, it is not desirable to misunderstand the literature of the division as a work of nationalism which could be contrast to the globalization discourse. Reunification model of Korea is the problem of how much it can contribute to peace of the world. So that is the answer to the question why Won-Il Kim's work is analyzed in 21th century.
This study focused on identifying Won-Il Kim's literature of the division of Korea, starting from criticizing that previous studies are too much inclined to fragmentary analysis on his literary work and has little diachronic and synchronic consideration. And this will be done with reviewing his most important work from 《A red sky》 in 1970s to 《An accordion》in 2000.
For this purpose, this study will review the concept and the category of the literature of the division, and then look into the context of social discourse on his work, examining the significance of his work of literature. It is summarized as follows.
The chapter III looks into the social discrimination of proletarian classes Sam-jo Kim represents which is described in 《A red sky》 as the cause of the territorial division after the liberation of Korea. The fragmentary exhibition of the conflict between the classes is the one of the forms of people's resentment. So we can understand the popular psychology through this part. And the writer described the reconciliation between the father and the son (speaker of the novel) in the name of the nation who had experienced the resentment during 29 years including the 1948's event and the 1970's Yushin, ruminating father's life. It is possible to notice that the distance between the father and the son was adjusted by crossing the point of time, which is the method that the writer was constantly attempting.
The chapter IV reconfigures the large-scale massacre in Geochang through the novel 《Winter valley》 which created a sensation in 1990. Seemingly, the Syngman Rhee's hard line towards the communists seemed to make it happen, but the underlying cause of the massacre was the ideological confrontation of cold war. And the innocent people were sacrificed by this conflict. As the result of this ideological confrontation that made the people divided into the mountain (left) and the village (right), the innocent people were slaughtered, which makes us know that the human is not only a cause of tragic division of territory but also a solution to overcome the division. Consequently this scene of sacrifice became a witness of the history. We can define the 1980's as a "politicide" which means a "political massacre", and this has the ideological link to 5·18 movement. While the 5·18 movement played a role of ethical awakening the Korean popular movement through the ruined people, 《Winter valley》 played a role of ethical awakening through the sacrificed people. These two events were a kind of a watershed on Korean history, and people related 5·18 movement and people in 《Winter valley》 were identified as a communist, so these were a typical form of the violation of the government. 《Winter valley》 witnesses the infringement upon human right done by the name of the "anticommunism", criticizing regnant powers who repressed the people's will and sacrificed the people. This destroyed the taboo on that period: the "anticommunism." Won-Il Kim tried to reveal the inconsistency of the cause of the division, witnessing the people's suffering.
The chapter V traced the root of the division, examining situation from the libration of Korea to October 1950 through 《The festival of fire》 which is regarded as his masterpiece. The views on the cause of the division are usually categorized into the view of intrinsic factor and the view of extrinsic factors. 《The festival of fire》 looks into the land reform and suggested the cause of the division through each character's dialogues. That is, 《The festival of fire》 provides a kind of comprehensive view on that. And 《The festival of fire》 seeks to overcome the division through the characters reactions in the side of the people. First, there is a care of other people who have a complex. Second, there is an awakening from the bottom. Third, there is a positive self training. This shows that we should help the people who feel more severely hurt, which represents the people's voice. Finally, there is a warning that we should careful not to have a blind acceptance of ideology and this also shows that the community spirit has be urgently restored. Andthere is a character who has both ideological experience, and the vision of reconciliation in the basis of orthodoxy of the one nation through this character. 《The festival of fire》 offered a multifocal point that has an open sight on the cause and overcoming which had not existed previously.
The chapter VII deals with the reunion of the dispersed family membership the changed situation after the fall of the USSR and Eastern Europe. 《In the search tor disillusion》 let us sympathized the dispersed family members' pain through the communist father's note. 《In the search tor disillusion》 shows three different views, asserting that the dispersed family members are the most urgent problem to solve for overcoming the division in the view of the people and making it clear that this problem should be solved on the humanitarian basis not on the politics. And we can notice the writer's intention to offer ahope for the restoration of a nation's homogeneity through the communist father Jung-lyul Park's note.
And 《An accordion》requested the magnanimity towards the prisoners who denies the conversion from a communist to liberalism. This was done by three different spectrums; first, there is an grandfather's younger brother who denies the conversion from a communist to liberalism; second, the grandfather's younger brother and the grandfather are all the victims of the division; third, there is an inconsistency of anticommunism internalized in our society which is represented by Jumsul Hwang's victimization.
While 《In the search tor disillusion》 shows that the legacy of division existing in two generation, 《An accordion》shows that the legacy of division existing in three generation. We can also find that the grandfather's generation is emotional and the father is the generation of anticommunism while the grandson has a more objective view because he didn't experience it indirectly. Through these legacies, Won-Il Kim suggests that the peaceful days represented by《An accordion》have to be restored.
Based on the review above, the significance of Won-Il Kim's work of literature is as follows.
First, Won-Il Kim dealt with the reinterpretation and reassessment of anticommunism in Korea which had been a taboo. He described communistsas angry insurgents caused by social discrimination in 《A red sky》, victims sacrificed by ideological confrontation in 《Winter valley》, a confident man speaking the people's will in 《The festival of fire》, declining man with shaking conviction in 《In the search tor disillusion》, a man of integrity who is ready to die in 《An accordion》. Although this is partly because of the changes in social situation, he also intended to be a neutral position describing the advanced image of communist which had been internalized by anticommunism.
Second, Won-Il Kim offered humanism as a channel connecting the left and right. Sam-jo Kim in 《A red sky》 committed himself to the communism which promised the world without discrimination for him and his family, but actually he had to enforce his family to give up their hometown. And the captain Song in 《Winter valley》 did an ironic behavior; for the sake of the world for the people, he went to the war which would make the people suffered. Min-se Cho in 《The festival of fire》 was engaged on communist party without caring for his family. Jung-lyul Park in 《In the search tor disillusion》 betrayed his family for his ideological belief. Kwang-su Park in 《An accordion》killed his agent for his anticommunism. They were all the fathers who made their family suffered since they, at least once, dreamed the communist's utopia. However, Won-Il Kim wanted to show that they are all very weak people who were drawn into the whirlpool of the history. And Won-Il Kim suggested that humanism is needed which overcomes the ideologies.
Third, Won-Il Kim took a neutral and objective stance. One of the features of his work is crossing narration; time is crossed in 《A red sky》, space and speaker are crossed in 《Winter valley》 , time and space were crossed in 《The festival of fire》, spatial boundary is extended to North Korea in 《In the search tor disillusion》 and in 《An accordion》. North Korea is a space of past memories in 《An accordion》, while North Korea is the present time in 《In the search tor disillusion》. This crossing method is a kind of strategy that helps to adopt diverse views from different time, different space, and different speakers. So Won-Il Kim provides the chance to see the truth itself.
Forth, Won-Il Kim examines the division not from the persons who were in the core of the division and the war but from the general people who were widely exposed by the war. Won-Il Kim didn't set the heroic character but he chose the general people so that he could have an objective and neutral perspective. He described a living character, and this presented his belief that the people are the world. For instance, the characters in 《A red sky》, 《Winter valley》, 《The festival of fire》, 《In the search tor disillusion》, 《An accordion》were the best characters that could have the view of the people.
According to the above examinations, we can understand that Won-Il Kim's work of literature is more oriented to the lives of the people rather than the ideology, homogeneity rather than heterogeneity, and reconciliation and humanism rather than hostility.
Although the literature of the division had to have disabled parts due to the ideological limitation, the literature of the division itself is valuable because it contains our lives during 60 years of division. And it is our property of literature. Literature is a reflection of society, so we can accumulate the property of literature through the exchanges between North and South. And Won-Il Kim's literature provides the more adequate view on the division, overcoming the previous crippling works of literature.
In this respect, the literature of the division has to focus on not only the restoration of homogeneity but also the interpretation of the cause of the division and the removing the barriers in reunification. And we also need to extend subject matters to the legacies of the division remaining in the present. And the ultimate goal is to be the establishing the proper perception of the division which is helpful to the reunification. Furthermore, the goal of the literature of the division should not be limited to the reunification itself, but have to contain the people's will which is future oriented. Then, this will of the people can be the driving force that will enable us to overcome many things even after the reunification. With this, the literature of the division will be able to remain after the reunification as a national property.
As pointed out, Won-Il Kim's work is not of emotion but of power, and not of simple reality but of critical reality. He described how the division destroyed the lives of people and showed the lives wrecked by the ideological confrontation. What is afraid of most is the one simple social mechanism that violates the freedom of individuals. Ultimately his orientation is humanism.
The division of Korea is not limited to this region. This is in the series of similar problem prevailed in the world. How we identify the 20th century is same as how we see the 21th century.
Therefore, it is not desirable to misunderstand the literature of the division as a work of nationalism which could be contrast to the globalization discourse. Reunification model of Korea is the problem of how much it can contribute to peace of the world. So that is the answer to the question why Won-Il Kim's work is analyzed in 21th century.
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