Cheju and Kwangju: Healing the National Trauma in the Works of Han Kang

Autor

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.22.2025.95.18

Słowa kluczowe:

Han Kang, South Korea, Cheju, Kwangju, massacre, genocide, state violence, national trauma, soul, national identity

Abstrakt

The paper will focus on two novels written by a well-known South Korean writer, Han Kang (1970-), namely Here Comes the Boy (Sonyŏn i onda, 2014) and I Do Not Bid Farewell (Chakpyŏl haji annŭnda, 2021), which deal respectively with the events of the Kwangju Uprising in 1980 and the Cheju Uprising in 1948, exposing the massacres of civilians by South Korean authorities. The aim of the article is to present these tragic events, which were not accurately portrayed in the Republic of Korea until the end of 1980s and – using Donald Kalsched’s theory of trauma – demonstrate that Han Kang acts like a shaman crossing the boundaries between an ordinary and non-ordinary reality in order to work through the national trauma, heal the broken souls and bring peace to the traumatized communities.

Pobrania

Statystyki pobrań niedostępne.

Biogram autora

  • Justyna Najbar-Miller - Uniwersytet Warszawski

    Holds a PhD in Literary Studies from the University of Warsaw (2011) and has also studied at Yonsei (2003-2004) and Kyung Hee (2005-2008) Universities. She has been an Assistant Professor at the Department of Korean Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Warsaw since 2011. Her research interests include Korean religions, Korean literature and literary translation. She has translated into Polish the works of Korean authors such as Pak T’ae-wŏn, Han Kang, Kim Ae-ran, and Ha Chang-soo.

Bibliografia

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Choi Jung-woon, “The Formation of an ‘Absolute Community,” in Gi-Wook Shin and Kyung Moon Hwang (eds), Contentious Kwangju: The May 18th Uprising in Korea’s Past and Present, Lanham 2003, pp. 3-10.

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Opublikowane

13-06-2025

Numer

Dział

Język i literatura

Jak cytować

“Cheju and Kwangju: Healing the National Trauma in the Works of Han Kang”. 2025. Politeja 22 (1(95): 311-32. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.22.2025.95.18.

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