The International Perspectives Of Democratic People’s Republic Of Korean Literature In The 2010s

The Immortal Guide is a series of novels depicting the image of North Korean former leader Kim Jong Il and his great achievements.In contrast to the general perception of North Korea as a closed and mysterious country,within the complex structure,The Immortal Guide series has a large number of writings on the international community,including leaders of various countries and many international personalities.The series also concerns major historical events that occurred in almost every period,covering economic,political,cultural and other aspects,which is rare in the history of world literature.Therefore,the international perspective presented in the North Korean series The Immortal Guide is an important for exploring the international understanding of North Korean writers and their imagination of the world.At the same time,it expands the inner space of the novel and enriches the content.For taking a closer look at the latest development in North Korean literature,this dissertation will select the novels published from 2012 to 2019 after Kim Jong-un came to power from The Immortal Guide series.By adopting the comparative literary imageology,postcolonial theory,and Foucault’s post-modern theory,this dissertation will have a comprehensive exploration on the formation,main content,and connotation of the North Korean international perspective as well as literary functions and discourse strategies of the series.The core values of North Korea and their mechanism along with the unique the development model of the country will be outlined at the same time.First of all,from historical perspective,this dissertation reveals the influence of historical experiences such as the serving-the-Great ideology,the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression,and The Korean War on the formation of North Korea’s international perspective.At the same time,it argues that the reflections and summaries of historical experience have strengthened national identity of North Korean people and their perception of subjectivity.North Korea’s external perception and national subjectivity are in a dynamic relationship that both depend on,interrelate with,and provide pieces of evidence for each other.The destruction of traditional living foundations such as families and villages by external forces has in turn given rise to a national community,which is the basis of legitimacy for the construction of modern nation-state.Secondly,using comparative literary imageology,the paper discusses the main content of North Korea’s international perceptions and foreign writing as reflected in the series.North Korea’s international perceptions are mainly targeted at the United States,Japan,South Korea,the Soviet Union,China,etc.The description of foreign countries not only covers in the public sphere of state relations but also penetrate the private sphere of family life.Therefore,North Korea’s understanding of the world is not restricted within single perspective,but presents multi-faceted,and multi-layered features.Thirdly,this dissertation also summarizes three main functions from North Korea’s writing of “others”: First,North Korea relies on others to position itself,especially in its celestial narrative,which provides abasis for legitimizing its behavior;second,international perspective is an important route for the production and dissemination of knowledge.By “disenchanting” the image of foreign countries,the series satisfies readers’ curiosity and at the same time breaks down the blind illusions about foreign countries.Third,North Korean writers express their desires in the international writing.Although these desires are presented as a critique against materialist and capitalism.Finally,the international perspective in the series shows the transformation of North Korea from being passively included in the world order to actively observing the world and integrating into the world system.The international outlook of this country has strengthened its subjectivity while bringing it an understanding of modernity.North Korea has constructed a concept of national identity with national dignity and “unity of one mind” as its core,and a modern outlook on development with self-reliance and unidirectional openness as core elements.Since the mid-nineteenth century,taking account of own specific historical contexts and unique experience,East Asian countries have formed different concepts of modernity and developed various development models when traditional and Western civilizations collide and blend.Therefore,the international perspective in the series shows exploration of modernity in North Korea.As one of participants and shapers of world history,North Korea provides us with a development mechanism that can be used for reference.