Hunger, Memory, Resonance: The Narrative of Hunger and Historical Writing in Chang-rae Lee’s The Surrendered

International Communication Studies in Literature and Art

ICSLA, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026, pp.109-117.

Print ISSN: 3079-2711; Online ISSN: 3104-5081

Journal homepage: https://www.icslajournal.com

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64058/icsla260111hmrnh

饥饿·记忆·共鸣：李昌来《投降者》中的饥饿叙述与历史书写

李永琪（Li Yongqi）

摘要：小说《投降者》以朝鲜战争为历史背景，采用了多人多视角叙事的手法，以三位主角的人生为主线，阐述了战争对于他们各自人生的影响。生于朝鲜的女孩珠恩（June）、生于美国的大兵赫克托（Hector）和美国传教士西尔维亚（Sylvie），这三位主角的命运因为朝鲜战争交织在一起。叙述的目的是记忆，小说以“饥饿”为切入点，通过反复的饥饿叙述激活这段被一些人“遗忘的集体记忆”，再现这场“被遗忘的战争”，重构这段被埋藏在文学角落的历史，以期引起全人类共鸣。

关键词：《投降者》；朝鲜战争；“被遗忘的战争”

作者介绍：李永琪，广东外语外贸大学英语语言文化学院博士生，研究方向：英美文学，电邮：20250120009@gdufs.edu.cn。

Title: Hunger, Memory, Resonance: The Narrative of Hunger and Historical Writing in Chang-rae Lee’s The Surrendered

Abstract: The Surrendered takes the Korean War as its historical background and adopts a multi-perspective narrative approach, tracing the lives of three protagonists and exploring how the war shapes their individual destinies. The fates of the three main characters, June, a girl born in North Korea, Hector, a soldier born in the United States, and Sylvie, an American missionary, are intertwined due to the Korean War. The narrative serves as an act of remembering, using “hunger” as a recurring motif to revive what has become a “forgotten collective memory”. By repeatedly depicting scenes of starvation, The Surrendered seeks to resurrect the “Forgotten War”, reconstructing a history marginalized in literature, and ultimately evoking a universal resonance among its readers.

Keywords: The Surrendered; Korean War; the “Forgotten War”

Author Biography: Li Yongqi, PhD candidate, Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Research interests: British and American Literature. E-mail: 20250120009@gdufs.edu.cn.