Inside North Korean Literature: The Hidden Meaning of Narratives

Abstract

This study examines the grammar of tension and appropriation in North Korean literature, thereby shedding light on the complex meaning and metaphors hidden within the external (literal) narratives of North Korean literary texts. The true meaning of North Korean literature is situated between the political reality and the tension created by its narratives. This tension, concealed within the constraints of custom and form, permeates the text and the spaces between the lines. Accordingly, when reading North Korean literature, in addition to considering the social and literary contexts of the text, one needs to be careful not to miss the hidden meanings held within. This study reads between the lines to examine the critical view of the current reality that North Korean literature is a metaphor for and the desires that are symptomatically expressed therein. Specifically, the focus is on North Korean science fiction, which uses a grammar of appropriation to discuss the realities of the present through narratives of the future.