Nationalism, Mourning, and Melancholia in Postcolonial Korea and Japan

Abstract

This study approaches postcolonial cultural representation in South Korea and Japan, using the psychoanalytic concepts of mourning and melancholia. By exploring the cases of two famous comic series, one South Korean and the other Japanese – Nambul and Zipang – this essay delves into the triadic structure of non-western colonialism, which has affected popular memory, interpretation, and the representation of colonial history in Korean and Japanese societies. Both the series are alike in that they deal with imaginary war stories, (re)construct alternative history, and present nationalist revisions of historical experiences. Moreover, their view of colonial history involves mourning and melancholia, specific response and reaction toward loss. Their melancholic despair and the mourning practices of the imaginary revision of history in both Nambul and Zipang lead us to focus on the triadic structure of non-western colonialism in Northeast Asia. By introducing the idea of a triadic colonial structure forged between Japan, Korea, and the West, this essay highlights and explain the differences in the sentiments of postcolonial representation.