초국가주의시대 미국 문학 속 탈북난민 내러티브 연구

초록

This study aims to research on how the narratives on the experience North Korean refugees have gained in global space have been represented in literary works published in the U.S. This essay theoretically proposes that turmoils North Korean refugees have gone through after they crossed the borders unfold the interstices in transnationalism. Transnationalism, once acclaimed as a plenary term to expound the globalism, turns out to be a chaotic and hostile discourse where borders and international politics operate to transform refugees, especially North Korean refugees to ‘homo sacers.’ Deconstructing Kantian vision of cosmopolitan global space, the dire situation North Korean refugees face proves that hospitality is deterred. The essay utilizes two literary works; The Girl with Seven Names written by Hyeonseo Lee and Krys Lee’s Drifting House. In The Girl with Seven Names, Lee testifies her transnational experience in which she escapes from North Korea and then goes through a lot of atrocious situations in China and finally asks for an asylum in South Korea. After Lee settles down in South Korea, she experiences another transnational adventure to take her mother and brother to South Korea. Krys Lee’s Drifting House, a collection of short stories, delineates how North Koreans escape and get healed through spiritual and hospitable communication in the U.S.

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