• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.11
• /
• pp.368-377
• /
• 2020

In this paper, the transmission and the phases of the memories in the novels dealing with Vietnam War have been studied. As a research method, Aleida Assmann's memory theory which plays a role in culturoloy theory is utilized. This study shows firstly that the others' voices excluded from the official memories of Vietnam War have emerged. Vietnam War novels released after 1990s actively reflecting the others' voices transmitted fresh the cultural memories. As the stories of civilian massacre, defoliant victims, and children of mixed bloods, Lai Daihan excluded from the official memories have emerged as a main them in the Vietnam War novels, they have become resistant memories. Existence and Formality, a Vietnam War novel by Bang Hyeonsuk brings up how to remember Vietnam War. His another novel, Time to Eat Lobster shows that without the fundamental retrospect and introspection of Vietnam War, Korea can't help but have the identity of America. Secondly, this paper shows that the tragedy of Vietnam War remains as a trauma that human bodies remember. White War by Ahn Jeonghyo shows that the memory moves back to the past in the process of struggle. In the novel, Slow Bullet by Lee Daehwan the phases of demage from defoliants lead to the family's tragedy. The Red Ao Dai by O Hyeonmi shows how a Korean-Vietnamese overcomes negation of his father and win his identity. In A Sad Song in Saigon shows that a mixed blood, Sairang who suffered from the confusion of his identity and his story fell down to a romance novel because of the weakness of narrative.