KJCKorea
Journal Central

In this article, we compared <Seolgongchanjeon> and <Geumbongchaegi> from 『Jeondeungsinhwa』 and focused on the phantom of Ghost possession used in the two works. The result is that although the two works have something in common, they also seem to have differences. What they have in common is that first, the main character goes to the underworld after death, but is allowed to return to this world by an Official of the underworld. Second, the main character's soul returns to this world and is possessed by another's body. Third, the way of possession is through the body of the main character's relatives or family. Fourth, the soul relieved its resentment by possessing another person's body. Fifth, the person who has been possessed is sick or has no energy. Finally, after the Ghost’s possession, the behavior of those who were possessed is the same as the behavior of the one who possessed. The difference between the two works, first is that in <Geumbongchaegi> there is no exorcism, while in <Seolgongchanjeon> there is an exorcism scene. Second, the stories of the underworld were barely mentioned in <Geumbongchaegi>, but the stories of the underworld were mainly mentioned in <Seolgongchanjeon>. Through this comparison, in terms of the Ghost possession aspects, we can see that Korea's <Seolgongchanjeon> and China's <Geumbongchaegi> from 『Jeondeungsinhwa』 have something in common, and there are also many differences. The <Seolgongchanjeon> which was created at a later time, may borrowed the motif of the Ghost possession of <Geumbongchaegi>, but <Seolgongchanjeon>’s aspect of the Ghost possession has its strong unique characteristics. So <Seolgongchanjeon>’s writer Chae-su's independent invention seems to be stronger than borrowing. Although this Ghost possession motif brought popularity to <Seolgongchanjeon>, it also caused fatal damage to this work. In other words, <Seolgongchanjeon> was banned by the Emperor and then burned. Also, due to this damage, later works could no longer utilize the Ghost possession motif. Accordingly, only <Seolgongchanjeon> which uses the Ghost possession motif in Korean novels has its own unique meaning, unlike many Chinese novels about the Ghost possession motif.

Ghost Possession, Seolgongchanjeon, Geumbongchaegi, Jeondeung Myth, Novel about Ghost Possession, Comparison between Korea and China