Confronting Violence and Fantasies in the Works of Jane Jeong Trenka

This article analyzes the works of Jane Jeong Trenka, a transnational adoptee writer who critically examines Korean adoption narrative and the representation of transnational adoptees within national ideology and multiculturalism. Trenka argues that the discussion of transnational adoption should be approached from the perspective of religion, national ideology, and capitalism. Specifically, she identifies how Christian, nationalistic, and capitalistic fantasies are projected onto the bodies of transnational adoptees, resulting in violence toward them. In response to these fantasies and violence, Trenka reconstructs several experimental narratives, negating the enforced fantasies onto adoptees and proposes alternative forms of narratives through various experimental literary devices. Through these attempts, Trenka tries not only to revive the voice of her silenced Korean birth mother, but also to combine musical and olfactory literary methods to her narrative, in order to overcome the enforced objectification toward Korean adoptee and its narrative. Furthermore, valuing the importance of co-existence and solidarity with other transnational adoptees, Trenka built an international network, TRACK (Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoptee Community of Korea), in order to support other adoptees’ isolation and anxiety. As a result, this article claims that Trenka criticizes enforced narratives and fantasies by national power and capitalism onto transnational adoptees, and actively debunks the fantasies perpetuated by religious, ideological systems. Trenka’s strategic attempts in her music and olfactory narratives are evaluated as her personal struggle and resistance that urges a new perspective and understanding of the adoption narrative. As a result, her way of confronting forced violence of transnational adoption contributes to publicizing the reality of the adoption issue and the sufferings of adoptees in Korea.