Sám hối và hòa giải trong hai tiểu thuyết Hàn Quốc viết về Việt Nam (Đọc Cái bóng của vũ khí -무기의 그늘 của Hwang Suk Young và Thời gian ăn tôm hùm - 시간 바다 가재 của Bang Hyun Suk)

Abstract

Repentance and reconciliation are two of the greatest subjects in world literature. Repentance refers to one's capacity to question oneself to be reborn, and reconciliation reflects a leniency for the sake of co-existing in peace. Incidental yet crucial steps of history brought South Korea to Vietnam in a negative situation: the America-Vietnam war. As they walked out of that bog, Korean writers looked back on the past that they themselves or their nation have gone through, with a restless heart. The present essay inspects two novels written about the America-Vietnam war: The Shadow of Arms, by Hwang Suk Young, and Time for lobster eating, by Bang Hyun Suk, from the eye of Thematic Criticism. The Shadow of Arms was publicized in 1985, and translated into English in 1994 and French in 2003. Time for lobster eating was publicized in 2003, and translated into Vietnamese in 2005. The two authors come from two different generations: the former, who directly participated in the war, wrote from an insider's view, while the later, growing up in the post-war era, reflects on the echoes of South Korea's history and the experience of peace in Vietnam. Literature does not halt at the past. Fictions are open spaces. From here emerges an honest and equal conversation between the South Korean and Vietnamese peoples about the present and the future....