이양지 문학과 모국어 (Yangji Lee’s Literature and Language of Mother Country)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국비평문학회
· 수록지 정보 : 비평문학 / 28호 / 261 ~ 282페이지
· 저자명 : 이한정

초록

Unlike other Korean-Japanese writers, Yangji Lee actually stayed in Korea for numbers of years in order to learn the language of his mother country. Her master piece works, Koku and Yuhi are the stories of Korean-Japanese students living in Korea in order to learn the language of their mother country. For Yangji Lee, Japanese is the 'mother tongue', while Korean is the 'language of mother country(national language)'. When he had tried to learn the language of mother country after becoming an adult, the 'mother tongue' only presented itself as an obstacle for learning the language of mother country. At the same time, the language of mother country could not be just treated as another 'foreign language'. He had to be confronted by a difficult situation in which his self identity was disintegrated by the mother tongue and the language of mother country. With that said, let’s examine how he has portrayed the language of mother country in his writings?
In each of Koku and Yuhi, Lee presents the life of Korean-Japanese who learns Korean from the people of mother country, in the 'ocean of the language of mother country'. To Korean-Japanese who are accustomed with Japanese being their mother tongue, the language of mother country could not become 'our language' which they could share with Koreans. In the end, Yuhi, the main character of Yuhi, returns to Japan after giving up the study for the language of mother country as she calls herself a hypocrite for easily using a word 'we or us'. In Yuhi, Yuhi lives a life of a bilinguist who also speaks the mother tongue while living in the mother country.
When a Korean language teacher scolds the Korean-Japanese students for recite Korean with 'Japanese like accents' in Koku, Soony speaks against the teacher in an adverse tone of voice by saying that it is only natural for them to do so as Korean-Japanese. Also in Yuhi, Yuhi’s roommate 'Na' reproaches her for writing Korean correct spacing of words just as in 'Japanese'. Yuhi feels very resentful about this. Lee’s literature reveals the anguishes of Korean Japanese learning the language of mother country in disadvantageous situations compared to Koreans. Korean Japanese must meet Koreans as their first step in learning the language of mother country and often receives condemnation for not knowing the language well enough. Lee depicts such struggles in her novels without filtration. Yuhi is different from Koku in its narrative point of view by designating Yuhi’s roommate 'Na' as the storyteller. 'Na' was told from Yuhi that there are hardly any 'passive expression' in Korean language. As 'Na' teaches Korean to Yuhi, she finds that it is possible to have the language of mother country, Korean in her case, presented as if it were a language of strange person, not as a self evident language of her own.
Ishi no Koe, Lee’s posthumous work, is the story of a Korean Japanese poet Jooil Lim. Lim must fight a battle against the language of mother country while writing poems in Japanese. He expresses the ironical situations in which he must struggle while studying the ideas of Korean but intentionally suppressing the language of mother country as he writes poetries in Japanese. Thus, the character makes an attempt to take a view of the language of mother country from a standpoint which transcend the political notions of 'nation'. We can notice how the character of Ishi no Koe attempts to explore the language of mother country as same as the mother tongue which is the language naturally inherited from parents and does not contain any political ideas of 'nation'.
Yangji Lee has consistently depicted the lives of Korean-Japanese who makes attempts to find self identity through the language of mother country. However, these characters explore the language of mother country as their personal language by eliminating political significances within after experiencing self disintegration from the incompatible conflicts between the mother tongue and the language of mother country. In Yuhi, even 'Na', who teaches the language of mother country, sometimes finds the language to be as strange as the language of other country. The language of mother country in the novels of Yangji Lee, is described in the likeness of the mother tongue to individuals and as posing more personal significances rather than political significances.

영어초록

Unlike other Korean-Japanese writers, Yangji Lee actually stayed in Korea for numbers of years in order to learn the language of his mother country. Her master piece works, Koku and Yuhi are the stories of Korean-Japanese students living in Korea in order to learn the language of their mother country. For Yangji Lee, Japanese is the 'mother tongue', while Korean is the 'language of mother country(national language)'. When he had tried to learn the language of mother country after becoming an adult, the 'mother tongue' only presented itself as an obstacle for learning the language of mother country. At the same time, the language of mother country could not be just treated as another 'foreign language'. He had to be confronted by a difficult situation in which his self identity was disintegrated by the mother tongue and the language of mother country. With that said, let’s examine how he has portrayed the language of mother country in his writings?
In each of Koku and Yuhi, Lee presents the life of Korean-Japanese who learns Korean from the people of mother country, in the 'ocean of the language of mother country'. To Korean-Japanese who are accustomed with Japanese being their mother tongue, the language of mother country could not become 'our language' which they could share with Koreans. In the end, Yuhi, the main character of Yuhi, returns to Japan after giving up the study for the language of mother country as she calls herself a hypocrite for easily using a word 'we or us'. In Yuhi, Yuhi lives a life of a bilinguist who also speaks the mother tongue while living in the mother country.
When a Korean language teacher scolds the Korean-Japanese students for recite Korean with 'Japanese like accents' in Koku, Soony speaks against the teacher in an adverse tone of voice by saying that it is only natural for them to do so as Korean-Japanese. Also in Yuhi, Yuhi’s roommate 'Na' reproaches her for writing Korean correct spacing of words just as in 'Japanese'. Yuhi feels very resentful about this. Lee’s literature reveals the anguishes of Korean Japanese learning the language of mother country in disadvantageous situations compared to Koreans. Korean Japanese must meet Koreans as their first step in learning the language of mother country and often receives condemnation for not knowing the language well enough. Lee depicts such struggles in her novels without filtration. Yuhi is different from Koku in its narrative point of view by designating Yuhi’s roommate 'Na' as the storyteller. 'Na' was told from Yuhi that there are hardly any 'passive expression' in Korean language. As 'Na' teaches Korean to Yuhi, she finds that it is possible to have the language of mother country, Korean in her case, presented as if it were a language of strange person, not as a self evident language of her own.
Ishi no Koe, Lee’s posthumous work, is the story of a Korean Japanese poet Jooil Lim. Lim must fight a battle against the language of mother country while writing poems in Japanese. He expresses the ironical situations in which he must struggle while studying the ideas of Korean but intentionally suppressing the language of mother country as he writes poetries in Japanese. Thus, the character makes an attempt to take a view of the language of mother country from a standpoint which transcend the political notions of 'nation'. We can notice how the character of Ishi no Koe attempts to explore the language of mother country as same as the mother tongue which is the language naturally inherited from parents and does not contain any political ideas of 'nation'.
Yangji Lee has consistently depicted the lives of Korean-Japanese who makes attempts to find self identity through the language of mother country. However, these characters explore the language of mother country as their personal language by eliminating political significances within after experiencing self disintegration from the incompatible conflicts between the mother tongue and the language of mother country. In Yuhi, even 'Na', who teaches the language of mother country, sometimes finds the language to be as strange as the language of other country. The language of mother country in the novels of Yangji Lee, is described in the likeness of the mother tongue to individuals and as posing more personal significances rather than political significances.

참고자료

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