The Effects of War and the Strategies for Salvation in Postwar Korean Society in Jang Yonghak's The Poetry of John

Abstract

This article discusses the effects of war and the strategies for salvation in postwar Korean circumstances as reflected in Jang Yonghak 張龍鶴 (1921-1999)’s story entitled The Poetry of John (요한 詩集 1955). First of all, I attempt to argue that the effects of war are double-faceted: on one hand, there are the psychologically traumatic effects of war, and on the other hand there are the existential effects which accompany them. Therefore, war and postwar circumstances do not only imply victims’ psychological trauma, but also a state of existential angst in which victims question the value of human existence and doubt the chance for salvation. However, in those circumstances, the possibility for salvation might come with the finding of a “proper space.” The “proper space” shall be here bestowed with a metaphorical connotation of a location within which one can finally make full sense of oneself and of the world. Death is also been conferred a symbolic meaning of a possible space of salvation.