Korean Unifying Theme Of The Novel Study

After the Korean War separated governments were established in North and South Korea respectively with the38th parallel as a dividing line. The confrontation between the left and right wings of Korea led into the worse conflict between the two governments. Distrust and estrangement grew increasingly in Korea Peninsula during the six-decade division, and Korean people parted for ever, suffering blood separation.In the late1980s, new change appeared in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) because of the collapse of Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War era. Along with the mood of reconciliation for diplomatic relations with Republic of Korea, the exchanges between North and South Korean non-governmental organizations became more and more active. Contrary to the former hatred confrontation between the two governments, there was a possibility to reunification in the Peninsula. Therefore, reunification theme was getting popular in literature in1990s.During this period, the North Korean literature was not free to the political ideology, but when the government of DPRK claimed1995as the year of reunification, the writers were inspired to pour through literature the pain of national division and sickness of parted family. Consequently the research of reunification literature in this period is meaningful. Furthermore, after the death of Kim Jong I1and the inheritance of Kim Jong Un, the problem of division in Korean Peninsula gathered the eye of the world. The unique features of Korean literature style since1990s deserves the study under the contemporary world situations.It is necessary to hold the objective view on studying North Korean literature. It can not be ignored that the North Korean writers' self-restriction are expressed under the general literature policy. Summarizing the current study of North Korean literature in the world, the present state of the study of North Korean literature in1990s is on the basic stage of data collection and analysis. Most of research takes a few works repeatedly as cases, which conclusions are narrow and limited. Therefore, this research, with the short stories of reunification theme published in North Korean Literature since1990s as objective, focuses on the subtle literature difference caused by the changes of the Party's literature policy and analyzes the reunification theme and writing technique, hoping to make meaningful contribution to the research on North Korean short stories of reunification theme since1990s.The dissertation is compiled from six chapters.Chapter One is the introduction, including the literature research, research objective, method and purpose.Chapter Two analyses the theory of North Korean literature of unification compared the works before and after1990. Under the background of Cold War and the monolithic society, the literature and literature policy before1990were unified. Writing in the scope of the literature policy reflected the Party's thought. In contrast, in the post Cold War era North Korean literature with multi-features showed a trend of deviation between the literature policy and actual literature. This part in the dissertation is vital in the study of literary background of reunification theme.Chapter Three classifies the short stories of reunification theme with the periodic and regional characteristics to grasp the literary context. North Korean Literature from1990to2010witnessed the epoch-making change of governmental attitude to the Republic of Korean with the relaxation of diplomatic relations. After that in1989Im Soo Kyung visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and then Hwang Suk Young, other writers and non-governmental organizations'visiting triggered off the expectation of unification. Many short stories of reunification theme were published till the death of Kim I1Sung in1994while reunification literature faltered when Kim Jong I1succeeded his father. Before the death of Kim I1Sung, the resolution declared1995as the year of reunification, so the writers devoted a great deal of enthusiasm in writing, vividly expressing the feeling of compatriots separation. However, after the death of Kim I1Sung, DPRK went through three years for the consolidation of Kim Jong I1's power and natural disasters. As the spokesman of the Party's policy, the writers did not have social condition to write short stories of reunification theme. Therefore the inside and outside changes of DPRK's political and economic system after1990is an important chance to promote the development of North Korean short stories of reunification theme.Chapter Four with specific works as example analyzes the short story of reunification theme from the aspects of the ideological characteristics, national characteristics and humanity. From the special social environment, North Korean literature failed to completely get rid of the shackles of the ideological dimension. The writers must embody the superiority of socialist Korea, such as "My country, DPRK, is the best" in the works. Even in the short stories of reunification theme, this ideology is very obvious. Three categories of Korean people—North Korean, South Korean and overseas compatriots, are divided according to the regions. In the works about North Korean life, North Korean people infinitely worshiped Kim I1Sung and Kim Jong I1for satisfaction and happiness to reflect the ideological characteristics. In the works about South Korean and overseas compatriots, they were in discontent about reality and longing for North Korean society, which was the natural worship of Kim I1Sung and Kim Jong I1to emphasize the necessity of reunification led by Kim I1Sung and Kim Jong I1. The works exaggerated Kim II Sung and Kim Jong I1as the savior of the nation and the world through individual deification. Yearning for returning to DPRK whatever their real life was, the heroes in the works believed that their deprived fate and wandering life was the punishment for departing their country and they wouldn't be happy until in the embrace of Kim I1Sung and Kim Jong I1.National characteristics are mainly embodied in the emphasis of reunification of the whole nation. Korea, split into North and South systems, is one nation in essence. DPRK and ROK, two separated governments, have done their best to put forward their various programs of reunification. In the early1970s, the two governments agreed that reunification is the internal problem of the nation, which should not rely on foreign forces but their own strength of the nation to achieve. It was shared that the fratricidal war should never happen. In addition, after "First Korean Nationalism" was put forward in1986, Kim Jong I1claimed to carry forward "the Spirit of First Korean Nationalism" in The Main Body of Literature in1992. Of course, it was criticized that DPRK's "The Spirit of First Korean Nationalism" was a strategy to distinguish from the original socialist system which collapsed in the late1980s and to conceal the crisis of North Korean society. But to sum up, it is worthy of recognition that the issue of reunification, though not simply a internal problem of the nation, can not depend on foreign power but the whole nation to solve independently. North Korean literature takes the task to educate the people about the Spirit; at the same time, it also reflects the effort for the earlier realization of national unity from another point of view.It can be found from the study on North Korean short stories of reunification theme, a large number reflect the measures adopted by DPRK in order to overcome the diplomatic difficulties and strengthen the enlightenment and spirit of nationalism advocated in the works. The short stories actively portrayed North and South Koreans, as well as overseas, worked together, and strived to struggle for the independent reunification and the new era of peace and prosperity.The humanity shown in the works can be regarded as the most significant change of North Korean literature in this period. Literature and art policy in North Korean with special purpose of literature and art concept, has always been the pursuit of aesthetic value in the secondary position, and more focused on the emphasis on the Party spirit, class and people. That is, the political intention of the North Korean literary and artistic creation is to praise the leader, to make contributions for the construction of socialism, and to achieve the revolution of Korean Peninsula. However, in this special period, the pain of separation and the love of missing relatives deep in the hearts of the writers were naturally presented in the works. People's feeling of missing and regretting, the torment to contact only through letters, short reunion only to simply confirm each other's life and death, were vividly depicted in the works to reveal the painful state of mind in the long-year missing. The contents of the works including wounds of war, torture of separation and bereavement, broke away from the Korean literature formulaic mode in certain degree, which is the most prominent achievements of the literature in this period.Chapter Five, based on narrative principles, studies the narratology of the short story of reunification theme. Although with various contents, the short stories of reunification theme in this period still did not get rid of the formulaic mode. The narrative mode of the work is mostly first-person narrative or the potential narrative to enhance the realism and credibility of the short story. Moreover, mosaic structure of most short stories is composed by external frame and internal stories with the narrative mode of flashback review. In mosaic structure, story-frame narrators introduce the internal story to arouse readers'interest, while other narrators guide the development of the internal story to bring new fun to readers. Compared with a single story, credibility the reader feel also increases. That is, freedom of viewpoint improves literariness of works. But most of the short stories set the same type of mosaic structure---now-past-now space structure. In the works the hero in the current life of ease, recalled the past to express the pain of national division and sickness of parted family through some kind of media or by chance. At the same time, the works criticize US imperialism and the forces of South Korean authorities against reunification as the root of division to express the worship of Kim I1Sung and Kim Jong I1who are necessary to reunification. The end of the short stories are romantic. In addition, plot pattern is also in formulaic mode. Major figures are self-oriented in North Korean life as a center. At the same time South Korean ideology is criticized inappropriately. North Korean life is depicted very rich and liberal; on the contrary, South Korean life is dark and unfortunate because of the irrational social reality. Namely, the works are lack of objective understanding of ROK. But it can't be denied that after1990s North Korean short stories of reunification show the landmark changes. Undoubtedly the writers write freely under the permission of the Party's literature and art policy. These works reflect the new transitional tendency from open concept of society to non-ideological system with individual's psychological activity as the medium in DPRK.Chapter Six discusses the significance and limitations of short stories of reunification theme as the conclusion of this dissertation...