Taking Possession of the Emperor’s Language
Taking Possession of the Emperor’s Language
This chapter presents a critique of the discourse of imperialization, looking into Kim Namch'ŏn's One Morning (Aru asa), which he wrote for Ch'oe Chaesŏ's kokumin bungaku literary magazine. One Morning presents a scene exemplary of Ch'oe's aspirations: children marching in formation, revealing the intention of a whole entity transcending individual desire. However, the reader is also presented with a melancholic take on the future embodied in the cheery procession of children seen through the eyes of watakushi. The story casts doubt on the happy future promised by imperialization, thus casting doubt also on the power of Japanese language to enact fascist desire. The chapter also examines the importance of watakushi, as the written character for the first-person pronoun is eschewed, and the word is spelled out phonetically, as if to emphasize the strange weight of the oral tradition being conjured up to synthesize nothing less than history, experience, and everyday life.
Keywords: imperialization, Kim Namch'ŏn, One Morning, Ch'oe Chaesŏ, kokumin bungaku, Japanese language, fascism
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