When she utters “our country,” which does she mean, Korea or Japan? Lee Yang-ji’s short stories “Yuhi” and “Nabi T’aryǒng” portray the agony and inner conflict of Zainichi (ethnic Koreans residing in Japan) who find themselves considered strangers both in Korea and Japan.

“Yuhi” features the eponymous protagonist going to Korea in search of her roots as does Aiko, the main character of “Nabi T’aryǒng.” Both women grow frustrated after realizing that they are considered marginal persons who can be neither Korean nor Japanese.

The two works vividly show traces of the writer’s agonizing search for her identity and feelings of ambivalence as a second-generation Zainichi. Through these autobiographical stories, she uses her personal problems to brilliantly explore the realm of ethnic identity and language.

• Lee Yangji, Author

  Yangji Lee (Yoshie Tanaka, 1955–1992), a second-generation Zainichi (ethnic Korean residing in Japan) novelist, artist, and folk dancer, used writing as one of many creative outlets to explore her experience as an outsider in both Japanese and Korean society. She studied in Korean literature and performance at Waseda University in Tokyo and later at Seoul National University, where she wrote “Nabi T’aryǒng.” In 1989, she became the first Zainichi woman to receive the Akutagawa Prize for "Yuhi," the last novel she published during her lifetime.
  In 1992, Lee died at age 37 from acute myocarditis, and her final novel Ishi no koe was published posthumously. To mark the 30th year of her passing, Yangji Lee Selection and Kotoba no Tsue: Lee Yangji Essay Collection were published in 2022.

• Cindy Textor, Translator