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Representation of Death in Literature after the Great East Japan Earthquake

  • 탈경계인문학Trans-Humanities
  • 2022, 15(2), pp.79-107
  • DOI : 10.22901/trans.2022.15.2.79
  • Publisher : Ewha Institute for the Humanities: EIH
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : September 25, 2022
  • Accepted : October 14, 2022
  • Published : October 31, 2022

Jeongmyoung Sim 1

1조선대학교 인문학연구원

Accredited

ABSTRACT

After March 11, 2011, under the recognition that this complex disaster greatly changed Japanese society, many writers discussed “post3.11 literature”. In this paper, in order to ask who could be the proper one to remember this disaster and mourn the death caused by it, I analyzed two literary works that summon people who have gone missing due to the tsunami as ghost. Maru Ayase's One day, You will Reach the Sea begins with the guilt of the survivor, and deals with the ultimate otherness of death. Also, by letting the character who has already died speak as ‘I’, its readers can realize the weight of each death. Mai Ishizawa's At the place following the shell asks questions about the multi-level distance between the people who survived and the Earthquake. In this novel set in Germany, the ghost of the dead bring back memories of the past, followed by Covid-19 pandemic, tsunami, wars etc. Through these works, readers can experience the loss and pain caused by the tsunami and get an opportunity to participate in the work of mourning. Also, these works, asking how we can participate in deaths other than tsunami, provide a clue to remember and grieve other pains.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.