The Polyphony of Anatolij Kim’s Narrative

Kim, Hyun Taek (Hankuk, University of Foreign Studies in Seoul)

Email: khyuntaek@hufs.ac.kr

 

ABSTRACT:

Anatolij Kim(1938– ), Russian writer of Korean origin, is considered as one of major contemporary Russian prose writers. He, third generation of Korean Diaspora in Russia, has attracted much critical attention since his debut in 1973. The unique linguistic style, experimental narrative technique, and Weltanschauung with cosmic vision constitute the characteristics of his literary world. The so-called identity crisis caused by being a Russian writer of pure Korean origin led this writer to pursue his own creative path. Searching for his place in this absurd situation, Anatolij Kim reached a conclusion that his fatherland was the earth, not a specific country. By the same token he does not belong to a nationality, but to the abstract concept of whole mankind. His major novella <Lotus>(1980) exemplifies this writer’s unique aesthetics originating from his unusual biographical and cultural background. His prose destroys the traditional time and space structure. The fantastic fictional world sustained by his unprecedented collective narrator WE creates a new polyphonic world where cultural traditions of West (Russia) and East (Korea) merge together. His polyphonic literary world explores the spiritual and philosophical dimension of our life, employing the new cultural paradigm ‘Spirit-Everywhere-Forever’ instead of the previously widespread ‘I-Here-Now’.