Gescheiterte Enthüllung unter dem Himmel von Nason: Kim Masumis postkoloniale Erzählung Nason no sora (2001)

Abstract

Although the Korean minority in Japan is of colonial origin, most studies dealing with zainichi literature do not focus on its (post)coloniality. This paper argues that analyzing zainichi writing from the perspective of postcolonial theory provides a fruitful contribution to the study of zainichi literature. Since postcolonial theory is usually biased towards Western (post)colonialism, emphasizing the dichotomy between Western colonial powers and their colonies, it is necessary to adapt it to the case of Japan. The first part of this paper therefore maintains that the dichotomy between Japan and its former colony Korea is fundamentally interwoven with a third factor: The West. The second part of this paper concentrates on the text Nason no sora (2001) by the zainichi author Kim Masumi, stressing its postcolonial character and illustrating the potential of a postcolonial reading.