Recounting War, Experience and Memory: The Representation of Space in Zainichi Literature During the Korean War

In the midst of the Korean War, Zainichi Korean author Kim Tal-su published two short stories, Son Yeong-gam (1951) and Pusan (1952), set in Japan and Korea, each depicting Korean protagonists. In its portrayal of the incidents that take place over the course of half a day in a small house where a married couple live in Busan, the text of Pusan makes abundant use of linguistic forms that serve to recreate, such as dialogue and onomatopoeia. The war in Korea, which the author did not experience first-hand, is a psychodrama that unfolds in a limited space. On the other hand, set in a Japanese naval port, the story of Son Yeong-gam takes place along a military road constructed by Koreans who had immigrated over before the war. Here, the Korean War overlaps with memories of the past war, and is recounted in a multi-layered time structure. These two short stories one connecting Zainichi Korean literature to the homeland via imagination, the other depicting a people who've lived by cutting open space and stacking layers of time show that Zainichi Korean literature encompasses the vivid history of the Korean diaspora.