Paper short abstract:

The first "Zainichi" Korean writers, Kim Tal-su and Kim Soek-poem, described Korea mainly through its historical turmoil. Their literary project was doubly political: denouncing foreign intervention in Korea and inventing at the same time a new kind of writing within the "Japanese Literature".

Paper long abstract:

Literary critics are unanimous in situating the beginning of "Zainichi" Korean writing in the 1960s'. Kim Tal-su (1920-1997) who wrote most of his novels in the 1950s' and the 1960s' is seen as the founding father of this kind of writing. As for Kim Seok-peom (1925- ), he began his career as a writer in 1957 publishing his first novel that year. As well as being the first "Zainichi" Korean writers, Tal-su and Seok-peom share another common point: they both describe Korea in its historical turmoil. Kim Tal-su depicts the revolt of the Korean people against the American presence in Taebaek Mountains (1969). Kim Seok-peom's life work, The Volcanic Island (1967-1995) concerns the Jeju Uprising.

Korea was indeed involved in the Cold War political structure immediately after its independence, although the division of the nation and the Korean War were brewing already from the late 1940s'. Kim Tal-su and Kim Seok-peom were both confronted with this situation and it shows in their work. Trying to interpret their work raises therefore several questions. Is their political commitment through literature a pure coincidence due to the historical period they lived in? On the other hand, couldn't we find a connection between their writings about Korea and them being the first "Zainichi" Korean authors? Couldn't this be a strategy for constructing their literary identity? Concerning the political features of their work it matches the definition of Minor Literature dear to Deleuze and Guattari. Their project is indeed doubly political: denouncing foreign intervention in Korea and inventing at the same time a new kind of writing within the "Japanese Literature" written in Japanese and that had belonged only to Japanese authors until then.