A Study of Yi Yang-ji’s Novelette Yuhi: Identity in Zainichi Korean Literature : identity in Zainichi Korean Literature

Dejanović, Ana (author), Visočnik, Nataša (mentor), Kang, Byoung Yoong (mentor)

During Japan’s annexation of Korea (1910–1945), a considerable number of Koreans were forced to live in Japan as a labour force. Faced with discrimination, the first generation of Koreans in Japan began writing about their experiences. After the occupation ended, many had become financially dependent on Japan. Around 600,000 Koreans remained in Japan and thus became the Zainichi Korean diaspora. Throughout the decades, these Koreans have written about their lives in Japan, their struggles under Japanese imperialism, and their continued challenges in the years that followed. Some explored the traumas, others the search for identity, while the current generation gradually diverges from traditional definitions of Zainichi identity. As a second-generation Zainichi writer, Yi Yang-ji grew up in Japan and spoke Japanese as her first language. Like many Koreans of her generation, she was raised without direct contact with Korea. However, throughout her life, she sought to better understand her Korean roots and learn the language. Traditional Korean music and dance held a special place in her heart, a medium through which she explored preconceived notions of homeland and mother tongue. Her works were inspired by her personal life, which dealt with the themes of identity exploration and the search for homeland. This thesis examines the multi-layered notion of homeland within her novelette Yuhi, as well as how Yi Yang-ji’s narration choices embody the essence of hybrid identity of diasporic existence.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Zainichi Korean diaspora, Yi Yang-ji, postcolonial literature, hybridity, in-betweenness
• Work type: Bachelor thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.11 - Undergraduate Thesis
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: [A. Dejanović]
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 75 str.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-174879
• UDC: 821.539.1–3
• COBISS.SI-ID: 254128899
• Publication date in RUL: 10.10.2025

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Analiza dela Yuhi avtorice Yi Yang-ji: identiteta v literaturi zainichi Korejcev : diplomsko delo

Abstract

Med japonsko ankesijo Koreje (1910–1945) je bilo veliko Korejcev prisiljenih živeti na Japonskem kot del delovne sile. Ob soočenju z diskriminacijo je prva generacija Korejcev na Japonskem začela pisati o svojih izkušnjah. Po koncu okupacije je veliko ljudi postalo finančno odvisnih od Japonske. Približno 600.000 Korejcev je ostalo na Japonskem in tako oblikovalo diasporo, znano kot Zainichi. Skozi desetletja so ti Korejci pisali o svojem življenju na Japonskem, o težavah pod japonskim imperializmom in o nadaljnjih izzivih, s katerimi so se soočali tudi po njegovem koncu. Nekateri so raziskovali travme, drugi iskanje identitete, medtem ko se sodobna generacija vse bolj oddaljuje od tradicionalnih definicij Zainichi identitete. Kot predstavnica druge generacije Zainichi pisateljev je Yi Yang-ji odraščala na Japonskem, kjer je bil njen prvi jezik japonščina. Tako kot številni Korejci njene generacije je odraščala brez neposrednega stika s Korejo. Vendar je skozi življenje skušala bolje razumeti svoje korejske korenine in se naučiti jezika. Tradicionalna korejska glasba in ples sta imela posebno mesto v njenem srcu ter sta prestvaljali sredstvo, s katerim je raziskovala vnaprej oblikovane prestave o domovini in maternem jeziku. Njena dela so bila navdihnjena z njenim osebnim življenjem, ki je obravnavalo teme iskanja identitiete in domovine. Ta raziskava preučuje večplastni koncept domovine v njenem kratkem delu Yuhi ter analizira, kako Yi Yang-ji z narativnimi izbirami uteleša bistvo hibridne identitete diaspore.

• Keywords: korejska diaspora Zainichi, Yi Yang-ji, postkolonialna literatura, hibridnost, vmesni prostor