Abstract: »This paper analyzes two diasporic novels, A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee and Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller, focusing on their exploration of historical truth, personal identity, and the possibility of healing. It examines how these novels address the narratives of Korean diaspora immigrants and former Japanese military comfort women in order to rewrite violently erased or silenced truths in history. It argues that both novels depict the struggle of protagonists and authors to overcome trauma and find the true meaning of survival by bearing witness to historical blanks. The article underscores the potency of collective public memory and mourning through reader participation. Finally, this paper highlights the role of re-memory and literary testimonies (or translations thereof) to the historical voids performed by these two Korean diaspora novels, and considers the possibilities for recovery and healing.« (Source: KISS)

Contents:

	I. Introduction
	II. Diaspora and the Dilemma of Passing in A Gesture Life
	III. Confronting Historical Injustice and Breaking Enforced Silence: Comfort Woman
	IV. Atonement and Reconciliation: The Possibility of Healing from "A Gesture Life"
	V. The Ethics of Memory, Mourning, and Response-ability: Testifying to Historical Blanks with Comfort Woman
	VI. Literary Testimony for Recovery and Healing
	References

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | History of Asia: History of Korea / Korea under Japanese rule | History of the Americas: History of the United States | Literature: American literature / Nora Okja Keller, Chang-Rae Lee | Literature: Works about comfort women / A Gesture Life | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Wartime sexual violence in World War II | War: Pacific War / Japanese war crimes