Research Article
Reading 『Der Yalu Fliesst』, from a Postcolonial Perspective
이화여자대학교 국어교육학과
Published: January 2019 · Vol. 54, No. 4 · pp. 205-237
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20880/kler.2019.54.4.205
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to explore the literary work, The Yalu River Flows, created under but beyond the background of colonialism, from the viewpoint of post-colonialism. As this experience of colonization was written about in a foreign country, unlike the works of other contemporary writers who were living under colonialism at the biginning of modern times, this novel has aspects different from those that described colonialism in the colonized nation. When most intellectuals described distorted Westernization through Japan, Li Mirok created work at the center of Europe, Germany, which had led World War II. While the discourse on post-colonialism in Korea is divided into pro-Japanese and anti-Japanese sides, The Yalu River Flows which was written in a foreign country, described Koreans as a valuable people trying to achieve peace. It insisted that Korea was neither a subordinate that deserved to be oppressed nor the other, but was itselt, “a main agent”. This book reveals the Europeans’ viewpoint of treating people equally, and is significant because a Korean was enlightened about this perspective of post-colonialism in the war-torn era.
