Closing the Distance: Identity and Self-Representation in the Japanese Literature of Three Korean Writers in Japan: Kim Sok Pom, Lee Hoe Sung and Kim Ha Gyong

Foxworth, Elise

doi:10.26181/60ebaddc594e2

Closing the Distance: Identity and Self-Representation in the Japanese Literature of Three Korean Writers in Japan: Kim Sok Pom, Lee Hoe Sung and Kim Ha Gyong

thesis

posted on 2021-07-12, 02:50 authored by Elise FoxworthElise Foxworth

The theme of cultural identity is topical in the academy and society at large but it is especially significant for the Korean diaspora in Japan. This thesis investigates the means by which Japan-based second-generation Korean novelists Kim Sok Pom, Lee Hoe Sung and Kim Ha Gyong characterize ‘zainichi Korean identity’ in six semi-autobiographical novels written in Japanese between 1957 and 1972. I argue that a close reading of The Death of the Crow (1957) and The Extraordinary Ghost Story of Mandogi (1971) by Kim Sok Pom, The Cloth Fuller (1971) and For Kayako (1970) by Lee Hoe Sung , and Frozen Mouth (1966) and Delusions (1971) by Kim Ha Gyong allows for an in-depth understanding of the experiences of Koreans born in Japan before 1945 and the effects of racial oppression on minority identity formation.

History

Center or Department

Cultural Studies

Thesis type

Ph. D.

Awarding institution

The University of Melbourne

Year Awarded

2009-01-01

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