| Resum: |
Paul Yoon’s short stories “And We Will Be Here” and “Look for Me in the Camphor Tree” follow Miya and Mihna, respectively, as they navigate the aftermath of loss amidst external pressures which pathologize and silence their suffering. Set against the background of Japanese colonialism, the Korean War, and the later transformation of the island life, both stories depict how private grief is inseparable from larger histories of violence and displacement. On the one hand, Miya, orphaned in childhood, now volunteers at an American hospital for soldiers while mourning the abrupt departure of her childhood companion, Junpei. On the other hand, the eight-year-old Mihna mourns her deceased mother as she opposes her father’s sudden decision to sell their lifelong family farm. Drawing selectively on trauma studies and hauntology, especially Cathy Caruth (1996) and Avery Gordon (1997), this dissertation studies Yoon’s use of ghostly figures and ghostly matters not as mere supernatural phenomena, but as warnings of unresolved grief and as catalysts for change. This hauntological, trauma-studies-oriented reading illustrates how Miya and Mihna, as alienated individuals, endure the hardships of grief through purposeful dwelling in the transitory stage of mourning, where threshold locations, and material objects become uncanny remnants of memory. Ultimately, by examining the ambiguous roles of the ghostly figures, I argue that they function as catalysts for action, and that welcoming rather than exorcising them facilitates dwelling. |
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