How Pachinko’s Structure Reveals History's Invisible but Meaningful Echoes

“History has failed us, but no matter,” is the striking opening line to Lee Min-Jin’s 2017 historical fiction bestseller Pachinko. The remainder of the novel and its multiple intertwined stories are told by a third-person narrator; however, this first remark does not seem to come from this disembodied omniscient voice that pervades the novel. One could interpret it as being the author, and indeed, in an interview with PBS NewsHour, Lee called it her thesis statement. This thesis statement also reads as the collective voice of a people and emphasizes two distinct points: One, it straightforwardly relays that historically, specifically in the 20th century, Korean people and their culture were constricted by the oppressive binds of Japanese colonization. And this traumatic history casts lingering shadows over the present. Two, the "but not matter" connotes a sense of brave resignation and resolute acceptance of a bitter past that’s forever inked in the pages of history.