The afterlives of Yi Gwangsu

Narrating the trauma of colonial collaboration

Bibliographic Data

ID2770599
AuthorsMichael D Shin (0000-0002-1692-9776, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume84
Issue2
Pages355-375
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0041977x21000690
OpenAlexW3204793480
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited8

This article seeks to examine the repeated appearance of Yi Gwangsu (1892-1950) in South Korean postcolonial fiction as a sign of collective trauma. Yi was a pioneering novelist who was a nationalist hero to his readers, but later became a collaborator who supported Japan's war effort. This article focuses on depictions of Yi in the works of three postcolonial writers - Choe Inhun, Seonu Hwi, and Bok Geoil - whose works bore witness to how traumatic his collaboration was. Their works displayed many of the defining characteristics of trauma such as delayed experience and transmission to others. They were also marked by narrative rupture as represented by Yi's mutually incompatible identities as both a nationalist and a collaborator. Rather than repeating the traumatic event, these stories employed various strategies to create new narratives that attempted to heal the trauma

Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · HERO · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Nationalism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Sign (mathematics) · Witness · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Asian Culture and Media Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy · Psychology

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