An Ethical Journey into History: Reified Memories in Korean “comfort women” Novels
摘要
In 2015, Japan and the Republic of Korea officially signed an irreversible agreement regarding “comfort women”, a euphemism for the systematic mass kidnapping and rape of women by the Japanese military in the 1930s and 40s. The Korean government was asked never to raise the issue again, and, in return, the Japanese government offered to provide funds to compensate the victim-survivors. Even before the two governments agreed on these terms, the victims were not consulted and instead faced criticism for their “inaccurate” testimonies. Writers of historical fiction played a key role contributing to the counter narrative movement for “comfort women”. This chapter examines the representation of victim-survivors’ lives in the novels Emi Irŭm by Yun Chŏng-mo and Hanmyŏng, Hŭrŭnŭn p’yŏnji, Kunini ch’ŏnsa, and Sunggoham by Kim Sum. Both authors draw on historical evidence gathered from testimonies to reimagine the survivors’ lives in their historical novels, and through the postmemorial process, the collective voice is strengthened. By tracing the incidents and details fleshed out in the novels, this chapter examines elements of historical fiction such as memory, testimony, and postmemory to evaluate how collective identity is consolidated through the writers’ cultural activism, which enables both the witnesses (authors/readers) and the victims to connect and achieve an understanding of the history of “comfort women”.