An interesting PDF discussing the brief period between the end of WWII and before the civil war. The abstract says, in part:
Themes include: the return of Koreans from overseas, whether from exile, forced labor, or conscription, and the loss of home that awaited them; collaboration; “self-criticism”; the hopes of a bright new future contrasted with the realization that nothing was going to change; and land reform and the plight of peasants.
Which sounds a lot like the themes of the years to follow, but the actual paper is a bit more interesting than that, since, among other things, Stevenson has included his own translations of the works he discusses, “Fire” (Pul, 1946) by An Hoenam; “Milestones” (Tojong, 1946) by Chi Hayon; “Constable Maeng” (Maeng sunsa, 1946) by Ch’ae Mansik; and “Before and After Liberation” (Haebang chonhu, 1946) by Yi T’aejun.
150 pages, so it’s a load. To download it, look towards the bottom of the page to find the link to the PDF.