'Shadow' Routes of Literature and Culture and the Politics of Activism in East Asia

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24652051
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Japanese literature
• Research Institution: Nihon University
• Principal Investigator: KO Young-ran 日本大学, 文理学部, 准教授 (30579107)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 検閲 / 日韓国交正常化 / ベトナム戦争 / 在日文学 / メディア / 文化運動 / 情報統制 / 翻訳

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This paper, titled “'Shadow' Routes of Literature and Culture and the Politics of Activism in East Asia,” draws attention to the significant involvement of Japanese literature and culture in democratization movements in South Korea under the military dictatorships following its release from the Japanese Empire. In particular, with regard to literary or cultural exchange, the vigorous movement (despite official bans by the authoritarian regimes) of “pro-democratization” books, people, and capital has not been elucidated previously. I highlight the “shadow” routes of culture that functioned together with “smuggling” and “refugee” routes, and create a basis for raising new questions in the study of Japanese-Korean modern literature and culture, which has been caught in a narrative that emphasizes the “rupture” and subsequent “normalization” of diplomatic relations.

Free Research Field

日本近代文学