A study of literary works by Kaneshiro Kazuki: with the focus on the novel GO

Literatura etničnih Korejcev na Japonskem predstavlja izredno zanimivo področje za literarno raziskovanje. Zaradi družbenih in zgodovinskih okoliščin so se tekom časa literarni trendi v njej spreminjali: literatura je etničnim Korejcem na Japonskem služila kot sredstvo upora, bila jim je orodje, s katerim so opozarjali na družbeno neenakost in v pomoč pri iskanju svoje identitete. Pisatelj in scenarist Kaneshiro Kazuki, ki se ga uvršča v literate tretje generacije, s svojim ustvarjanjem presega okvire literature diaspore: njegova dela so del popularne literature in zanje je značilna multimedialnost. V svojih literarnih delih prikazuje posameznike, etnične Korejce, ki živijo in sobivajo z japonsko družbo. Delo GO (2000) je njegovo poglavitno literarno delo, prevedeno v več jezikov. Skozi oči najstnika bralca sooči z izkušnjami korejske manjšine na Japonskem, z vprašanji identitete, medgeneracijskimi odnosi, odnosi v etnični skupnosti, ter iskanjem prostora v japonski družbi. Protagonist Sugihara najde svoje mesto s pomočjo družine, prijateljev in skozi prvo ljubezen.In principle, the literature written by ethnic Koreans in Japan includes the literature created by ethnic Koreans in Japan (and their descendants) who immigrated to Japan before the end of the World War 2. It was influenced by the historical events and social environments throughout time. Thus, it served as a political tool, a voice of rebellion, and a means to search and question one’s identity. As it is written in the Japanese language it was also a medium with which they could convey their thoughts and experience as a minority to the Japanese society. Therefore, the literary trends that dominated their works changed with the generations. One of the writers that is classified as a 3rd generation writers is Kaneshiro Kazuki. He challenges the diaspora literature by creating works that are at the same time a part of the popular literature. His works cross the borders between different media, thus making them easily approachable by the masses. His representative work, GO, was published in 2000. Due to its popularity and reception, I focused my research on the novel GO. Similar to the writer himself, the protagonist is a teenager, an ethnic Korean, born and raised in Japan. The protagonist states that GO is his love story, but at the same time it also introduces the story of an ethnic Korean teenager searching for his place in the Japanese society. The aim of this thesis is to analyze GO and study in what way Kaneshiro introduces the experiences of ethnic Koreans in Japan, and what his message is to the readers