Date of Award

12-14-2015

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Comparative Literature

First Advisor

Krista Van Fleit Hang

Abstract

This thesis examines the representation of Korean Chinese searching for home in relation to Korean diasporic identity. Home as a sense of identity is both personal and collective. It is also a reflection of one’s psyche and emotion. For Korean Chinese, searching for a place to call home in between their host-homeland China and original homeland Korea involves many aspects of meaning, the home of an individual, of a family, and of a community. Therefore, the third cultural region Yanbian, the Korean Chinese Autonomous Prefecture of China, and Yanbian narratives become the central issue of this thesis. I first offer an analysis on the historical relations between Yanbian and Korean Chinese as well as Korean Chinese intellectuals’ debate over Korean Chinese cultural identity and Korean diaspora. Then, I do a close reading of third generation Korean Chinese writer Ho Yon-sun’s two novels Windflower and Who Saw a Butterfly’s Nest respectively. Throughout my thesis, I argue that both the process of Korean Chinese characters’ negotiation of an entry to Korea in Who Saw a Butterfly’s Nest and the efforts to reconcile conflicts between Korean Chinese and South Koreans in Windflower is born from a desire of Korean Chinese to establishing a home and to position themselves in between their host and home culture.

Rights

© 2015, Xiang Jin

Download

Share

COinS