Minor salvage : the Korean War and Korean American life writings / Stephen Hong Sohn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sohn, Stephen Hong, 1979- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Korean War, 1950-1953.

War and literature--United States--20th century.

War and literature.

Korean Americans--Personal narratives--20th century.

Korean Americans.

Korean American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

Korean American literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (309 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, [2022]

Summary:

The Korean War, often invoked in American culture as "the forgotten war," remains ongoing. Though active fighting only occurred between 1950 and 1953, the signing of an armistice resulted in an infamous stalemate and the construction of the Korean Peninsula's Demilitarized Zone. Minor Salvage reads early Korean American life writings in order to explore the admittedly partial ways in which those made precarious by war seek to rebuild their lives. The titular phrase "minor salvage," draws on different valences of the word salvage which, while initially associated with naval recovery efforts, can also be used to describe the rescue of waste material. Spurred by the stories told and retold to him by his parents Soon Ho and Yunpyo, Sohn enacts minor salvage by reading overlooked early Korean American life writings penned by Induk Pahk, Taiwon Koh, Joseph Anthony, and Kim Yong-ik alongside a later generation of life writings authored by Sunny Che and K. Connie Kang. In the context of the Korean War, Sohn argues, life writings take on a crucial political orientation precisely because of the fragility attached to refugees, civilians, children, women, and divided family members. To depict the possibility of life is to acknowledge simultaneously the threat of death, violence, and brutality, and in this regard, such life writings are part of a longer genealogy in which marginalized communities find representational power through the creative process.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Unfinishing War

Chapter 1. Proximate Memory Assemblage: Refugee Shapeshifting and the Many Metamorphoses of My Parents

Chapter 2. Extending the Gift of American Refuge: Beyond Familial Separation in the Life Writings of Induk Pahk and Taiwon Koh

Chapter 3. Authorial Revisions: Fantasies of the Archive and the Many Faces of Joseph Anthony

Chapter 4. Critical Refutopias: Adaptation and Representational Resurrections in Kim Yong-ik's Fictional Life Writings

Chapter 5. Retrospective Transformations: Recounting Refugee Flight in the Memoirs of K. Connie Kang and Sunny Che

Coda: On (Un)ending

Notes

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-279) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

Other Format:

Print version: Sohn, Stephen Hong Minor Salvage

ISBN:

9780472129874

0472129872