KJCKorea
Journal Central

The aim of this thesis is at examining the feature of plays written by Yeon, Sung-Yong, Korean dramatist in Soviet Central Asia. Studies of the history of Korean literature have focused on the South-Korean literature. Thus this essay observe dramas of Korean residents abroad, especially in Soviet Central Asia. The date of Koreans' emigration to the Maritime Province of Siberia is traced back to the end of the 19th century. But the period of "Sin-Han-Chon(新韓村)" came to an end after resolute enforcement of emigration policy by Stalin. Because Koreans, scattered in Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, gave up their mother tongue and adopted Russian, they was difficult in maintenance of national identity. The identity of Yeon, Sung-Yong and the feature of his drama underwent three different phases ; 'Son of Cho-Sun(朝鮮)→Son of Soviet→Son of God' The play <Olympic>, his early work, expresses the consciousness of nationality and social class powerfully. There after, his literary style changed suddenly after emigration into Soviet Central Asia ; His drama begun to laud Stalin to the skies. For example, <The children>, <Upright woman>, <The phoenix> etc. But in these plays we can find traces of national identity through the expressions of his mother tongue, especially a proverb, a maxim, and a traditional dialogue or song. <The sound of a bell in the hell>, his play in the latter term, begun to open his mouth about nation in earnest. But in this work, he could not reflect his past-time applausive attitude toward Stalin. Frankly speaking, we can not understand perfectly the identity of Koreans in Soviet Central Asia. Hybridity of their identity offers us an opportunity to reflect about our exclusive nationalism.

Korean in Soviet Central Asia, identity, native place, the fatherland, nation, mother tongue, stereotype