A study on the Korean Postwar Literature
- With Novels in the 1950's -
Lee, Soon-Jik
Understanding the dividing eras of Korean literature depends on the thinking structure the national and of the social system. Unfortunately, these two are in consistent conflict and cause complications. The root of these conflicts originates from the Japanese colonization period.
In other words, the complications of national and social system stems from the opposing ideologies of tradition-oriented versus foreign-oriented as well as feudalism versus anti-feudalism.
This conflicting complication originated from the Korean War. The Korean War has both the common character of war as well as the special character of shedding blood of the same bloodline.
As a common character of war, the works written during the Korean War are focused on the war and the tight relationships among humans. That is fear related to death or violence from war. As a special character works written during the Korean War show ideological humans and blood related humans.
It shows the original power which overcomes the ideological opposition in the consciousness of blood related humans. Therefore, the ideological violation which this gives civilians suggests the complexity of the Korean War from resultant this ideological violation.
The works include aspects of the reality of the war by village units liberated from the governmental literature style. The new style of work overcomes the ideological violation, the consciousness of communal unity or traditional values.
The Korean War caused the resultant conflict between national and social systems which cannot be reunited and failed by military force that fused the structures. It resulted in the separation of the national theory and the system theory.
It was divided by both the national and social systems theories by individual dimension. In a realistic way, the national theory can win the system theory in the individual dimension. However, in the system theory of national dimension - it is the force of the individual dimension.
Among the works in which the system theory of the national dimension is used as the means of keeping the North and South dividing structure, the works suggest that the system theory is false when the national theory of the national dimension does not exist or is weak and it suggests that those works tell it must doubt the natural shape of the national.
Therefore, the same unity of system and the unity of national is not the same. As long as the unity of national is not active first, the unity of system is only the name of maintaining the dividing structure. In reality the system theory used maintains the system for the works.
The works which focus on reality, deals with the system theory by forcing nationalism. It is the reason why the unity, which the nationalism is not in good conduct, the national will never happen.
We can simply imagine the unity of system theory as mainly in the unity of the system.
The motif of loosing the home is general among of the divided consciousness. It divides recognition of the meaning of living condition and it divides recognition of political reality.
Even if one's life so settled down in a strange land, one's internal lose of a home feeling by the divided consciousness cause pains similar to death. The feelings remain as continuous heartsickness in the process of one's living.
In relation to the US Army, the works gain and divide the characters into three sectors. First, the US Army had the character of solving the material lack of meaning during before the war and after the war. Secondly, the US Army was the representative character of foreign-orientation for us. And thirdly, the US Army was the occupation of army troops.
We are under the shadow of the US Army which has the complicated character of restraining the people who get in the way of surviving it and leads to either giving him/herself up to despair or to become desperate.
By viewing the US Army through a national perspective, it sharply catches the contrary stream of the history of national Korea. In other works, it clearly tells whether works are set up in the right direction, into the wrong way, or if the historical chain of the hook is not in other.
Eventually we cannot get away from the shadow of the foreign-orientation represented by the US Army. It is possible that we can recognize tomorrow by the direction of yesterday by looking back at national history with a critical view.
As we examine the people's lives who have experienced the war and survived, we can make a conclusion of how they lived throughout the war. We can see men's incompetence and weakness, being psychologically poor according to the devastation of living conditions before and after the war.
Their severe criticism is about a society which the intellectuals have not experienced. Their losing the value of living, and the hurting feeling from the war which came to the social and the spiritual after the war generation.
The Korean War has the general character rather than the special character of the war that left extraordinary and cruel destruction. Behind the scene of war, it was the foundation of the national theory and the system theory. Pain in the present time and the extraordinary memories war lead to lives of deformation and destruction.
It accumulates in our lives with just simply living because we cannot end life. We can only find it from the mother-centered origin, which the gives the living hope for tomorrow beyond the complete hopelessness society and the individual living condition.
It is the society which changed motherly myth which ended the contrary present relationship for the newborn baby, the small demonstration of the revolution of society which absorbed the absurdity, finding a life or making oneself sacrifice for the younger brother.
The complexity of the Korean War is combined with losing home dividing consciousness vs. the eradication of communism or anti-communism consciousness vs. ruin consciousness. Most of the time, regarding the losing home dividing conscious put the losing home and the division of the country at the same level.
The eradication of communism or anti-communism is the foundation that maintains the dividing structures. Most of the time the system theory of the national dimension forces the national theory of the individual dimension.
It originated the ruined consciousness caused the repetition of bad circulation in which the physically poor bear the spiritually poor and the spiritually poor causes physical poverty. The overthrow of the ruined consciousness can be gained from the power of motherhood.
The complexity of the absence of the father has the same meaning of dimension when the father has the same meaning as home and when the youth spend their youth with the absence of father. All children come from the father. One recognizes the self-ego is at the one's standing place is home.
Therefore, home and father is in the same meaning of dimension. Especially, the father that one experience the world of logos to be extemporary and emotional the fatherly paradigm helps the youth to overcome it.
Therefore, the absence the father and home should be in the same meaning dimension, the father has the role model as the buffer zone with the foreign-oriented character and tradition-oriented character.
With the absence of father, it causes the circumstance of making one choice in the works. It is the same when one sells the house of the head family or arrives when one at an unfamiliar colonized port.
We can find obvious symptoms when a youth spent his/her youth without father. The complexity of the absence of father, the rejection of bloodline consciousness; negative images of motherhood; and strong closeness of mother only as a psychological symptom in later years. These after war years symptoms motivate the basis of the way of thinking which leads to deformed life.
We can say that it is very properly united with the literature's point of view as in the case of Son Changsop telling that blood shedding of the same nation is a shock for the character of historical deformation.