Pak Mikhail is one of the Soviet Korean writers. Although he started writing novels in Russian in order to find his roots Pak Mikhail learned Korean and now he writes in the Korean language also. His novels include not only problems concerning Soviet ...
Pak Mikhail is one of the Soviet Korean writers. Although he started writing novels in Russian in order to find his roots Pak Mikhail learned Korean and now he writes in the Korean language also. His novels include not only problems concerning Soviet Koreans national identity but also those of artist's identity and human's identity. Therefore reading such novels makes us to think over our identity problems. The purpose of this study is not to find a solution to any kind of identity problems - it is just to look through 'Soviet Korean-artist's identity problem in Pak Mikhail novels and to show Soviet Korean readers the value of such literature.
In this study the following five novels were analysed. Those are «At the foot of Angels», «Sunflower petals blow», «Nude photographer», «Night is another Sun», and «On Island». The difference between this study and the previous ones is that in this paper not only translated to Korean novels have been analyzed but also those which are available only in Russian. For a better understanding of discussion at first the Soviet Koreans migration history, literature, national identity and Pak Mikhails biography were discussed.
Through Pak Mikhail's novels we can see that the Soviet Koreans national identity is still strong because of national consciousness. It has not weaken even though the traditions changed a lot and the national language has been forgotten by many.
While discussing artists many people usually think that they live a colorful life earning a lot of money. However, Pak Mikhail in his novels shows that artists are just regular people. His novel's artist has 'free spirit' and his works not always fits the time he lives in. He is poor but he just keeps on creating art his own way. Even though his works do not receive any recognition he never gives up.
Since there are not many previous studies of Pak Mikhail's works, it was difficult to conduct a more in-depth study on the topic and so this thesis may seems a little lacking. Still, I hope this thesis will be helpful in future studies not only of Pak Mikhail's works but also in the study of other Soviet Korean writer's novels.