ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This paper examines Takayuki Koizumi's novels pertaining to leprosy, which focus on the problem of the relationship between different minorities. This study attempted to examine the possibility of solidarity between minorities by determining how the literature about leprosy is establishing a relationship with minorities other than lepers. Koizumi's work is remarkable in that it contains a wealth of minority issues based on different factors such as race, age, disability, and aging. The novels we analyzed are Korean Child (1956), Leaflet Sprinkling (1967), Shape of Love 1 (1968), and Shape of Love 2 (1968). In each novel, Koreans, student activists, an old man, and people with physical disabilities appear as minorities other than lepers. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the diversity of gaze, which is never homogeneous, is reflected in the relationship between the minority and lepers. The relationship between the outsiders who should be “partners”in terms of sharing their alienation and discrimination experiences is rarely accompanied by empathy and companionship. The alienation of the minority inside, such as alienation between the lepers and the disabled and the dual alienation to the Korean lepers, is a representative example. However, Shape of Love 1,in which the elderly and a woman who face the universal alienation of “aging” and the special alienation of “leprosy” communicate internally beyond differences, suggest a clue to minority bargaining. Takayuki Koizumi's novel never optimizes the possibility of minority solidarity. It is a characteristic of his work to reveal the universal aspect of the relationship between others based on difference and individuality. However, the pursuit of universality, which is based on difference and individuality, can be assessed as a possible objective of Koizumi's novel in that it symbolizes the life of post-war lepers who struggled to negotiate with society beyond the walls of the leprosy sanatorium.

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