Gender, Ethnicity, and Literature in Japan and Korea, 1930S–1950S

Fissured Languages of Empire: Gender, Ethnicity, and Literature in Japan and Korea, 1930s–1950s Christina Yi Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Christina Yi All rights reserved ABSTRACT Fissured Languages of Empire: Gender, Ethnicity, and Literature in Japan and Korea, 1930s–1950s Christina Yi This dissertation investigates how Japanese-language literature by Korean writers both emerged out of and stood in opposition to discourses of national language, literature, and identity. The project is twofold in nature. First, I examine the rise of Japanese-language literature by Korean colonial subjects in the late 1930s and early 1940s, reassessing the sociopolitical factors involved in the production and consumption of these texts. Second, I trace how postwar reconstructions of ethnic nationality gave rise to the specific genre of zainichi (lit. “residing in Japan”) literature. By situating these two valences together, I attempt to highlight the continuities among the established fields of colonial-period literature, modern Japanese literature, and modern Korean literature. Included in my analyses is a consideration of literature written by Japanese writers in Korea, transnational media and publishing culture in East Asia, the gender politics of national language, and the ways in which kōminka (imperialization) policies were neither limited to the colonized alone nor completely erased after 1945. Rather than view the boundaries between “Japanese” and “Korean” literature as fixed or self-evident, this study examines the historical construction of these categories as generative discourses embedded in specific social, material, and political conditions. I do this through close analytical readings of a wide variety of primary texts written in Japanese by both Korean and Japanese writers, while contextualizing these readings in relation to the materiality of the literary journal. I also include a consideration of the canonization process over time, and the role literary criticism has played in actively shaping national canons. Chapter 1 centers around the 1940s “Korean boom,” a term that refers to the marked rise in Japanese-language works published in the metropole on Korea and its culture, written by Japanese and Korean authors alike. Through broad intertextual analyses of major Japanese literary journals and influential texts by Korean writers produced during the “Korean boom,” I examine the role played by the Japanese publishing industry in promoting the inclusion of Koreans in the empire while simultaneously excluding them from the privileged space of the nation. I also deconstruct the myth of a single “Korean” people, and consider how an individual’s position within the uneven playing field of colonialism may shift according to gender and class. Chapter 2 deals with the ideologies of kokugo (national language; here, Japanese) and kokumin bungaku (national literature) during the latter years of Japan’s imperial rule. The major texts I introduce in this chapter include Obi Jūzō’s “Tōhan” (Ascent, 1944), first printed in the Japanese-language journal Kokumin bungaku based in Keijō (present-day Seoul); a comparison of the kōminka essays written by Yi Kwangsu in Korean and Japanese; and the short story “Aikoku kodomo tai” (Patriotic Children’s Squad, 1941), written by a Korean schoolgirl named Yi Chŏngnae. Through these texts, I show how kokumin bungaku depended upon the inclusion of colonial writers but simultaneously denied them an autonomy outside the strictures of the Japanese language, or kokugo. In Chapter 3, I move to Occupation-period Japan and the writings of Kim Talsu, Miyamoto Yuriko, and Nakano Shigeharu. While Koreans celebrated Japan’s defeat as a day of independence from colonial rule, the political status of Koreans in Korea and in Japan remained far from independent under Allied policy. I outline the complicated factors that led to the creation of a stateless Korean diaspora in Japan and highlight the responses of Korean and Japanese writers who saw these political conditions as a sign of an imperialist system still insidiously intact. In looking at Kim Talsu’s fiction in particular, I am able to examine both the continuities and discontinuities in definitions of national language, literature, and ethnicity that occurred across 1945 and map out the evolving position of Koreans in Japan. Chapter 4 compares the collaboration debates that occurred in post-1945 Korea with the arguments over war responsibility that occurred in Japan in the same period, focusing on the writings of Chang Hyŏkchu and Tanaka Hidemitsu. Although the works of both individuals have been neglected in contemporary literary scholarship, I argue that their postwar writings reveal how Korean collaboration (ch’inilp’a) and Japanese war responsibility (sensō sekinin) emerged as mutually constitutive discourses that embodied – rather than healed – the traumas of colonialism and empire. Finally, in the epilogue of this dissertation, I introduce the writings of the self-identified zainichi author Yi Yangji in order to consider how all of the historical developments outlined in the previous chapters still exist as lived realities for many zainichi Koreans even today. Fissured Languages of Empire: Gender, Ethnicity, and Literature in Japan and Korea, 1930s–1950s Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………..i List of Figures……….…………………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………iii Brief Historical Background & A Note on Names, Terminology, and Translations………………………………………………………………………………………..v Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1. Imperialization and the Gender Politics of Language in the “Korean Boom”……….21 Chapter 2. Envisioning a Literature of the State: The Production of National Literature……………………………………………………………………………..82 Chapter 3. Postcolonial Legacies and the Divided “I” in Occupation-Period Japan…………..140 Chapter 4. Reconstructing National Identities: On Collaboration, Wartime Responsibility, and Colonial Memory.………………………………………………………………......197 Epilogue………………………………………………………………………………………...252 Selected Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….268 Appendix: Names………………………………………………………………………………278 i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Cover for 1939 Korea issue of Modan Nihon. .............................................................. 33 Figure 2: Yohmo hair tonic ad (1939), 2-page spread. ................................................................. 33 Figure 3: Yohmo advertisement (1940), 2-page spread................................................................ 43 Figure 4: Murayama Tomoyoshi photo montage (1940), 2-page spread...................................... 46 Figure 5: Kisaeng photo montage (1940), 2-page spread. ............................................................ 46 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been possible without the support of a number of people. I count myself fortunate for the community I found at Columbia, beginning first and foremost with my co-advisors, Tomi Suzuki and Theodore Hughes. Their tireless dedication, encouragement, and generosity easily outstrip any and all superlatives I could write here, and serve as inspiration for the type of teacher I aspire to become in my turn. I also wish to thank the other members of my dissertation committee. Haruo Shirane’s unfailing guidance and always- practical advice helped me reach the finish line and beyond. The seminars taught by Paul Anderer pushed my research interests in exciting new directions, and constantly challenged me to rethink the boundaries of my own assumptions. Special thanks to Serk-Bae Suh, who kindly agreed to serve on my dissertation committee despite being on the opposite end of the country, and whose comments will no doubt push this dissertation into deeper, more thoughtful territory in the future. I spent two years conducting dissertation research at Waseda University under the sponsorship of Toeda Hirokazu. Unstinting with his time, knowledge, and encouragement, Professor Toeda is one of the best mentors I have known. While in Japan I was also fortunate to learn from Ko Youngran, Ri Sonshi, and Tanaka Yukari, among many others. Kwak HyoungDuck, Shiono Kaori, and Tokinoya Yuri were three graduate students who helped make my time in Japan not only productive but fun; they are great friends, and amazing colleagues. Thanks too to the members of Kimusupo and Jisedai Forum, for many memorable discussions and events. This dissertation was made possible through generous research funding and administrative assistance from the Japan Foundation; the Social Science Research Council iii (SSRC-IDRF); the Waseda University 125th Anniversary Commemorative Junior Visiting Researcher Fellowship; the Weatherhead East Asian Institute; and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University. As mentioned above, I benefited from a particularly strong community of friends and teachers at Columbia. Space restrictions sadly prevent me from listing everyone by name, but I would be remiss if I did not mention Nan Ma Hartmann, Daniel Poch, and Shiho Takai, cohorts who were with me from the very beginning as well as every single step of the way; and Yumi Kim, the best roommate anyone could hope for. Additional thanks to Brendan Jinnohara, Selma Kraft, Alex Lee, and Nancy Li for reminding me there was a life outside graduate school with all those food-eating

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