@article{ART003220552},
author={KangJiHee},
title={Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era},
journal={Journal of Popular Narrative},
issn={1738-3188},
year={2025},
volume={31},
number={2},
pages={13-49}
TY - JOUR
AU - KangJiHee
TI - Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era
JO - Journal of Popular Narrative
PY - 2025
VL - 31
IS - 2
PB - The Association of Popular Narrative
SP - 13
EP - 49
SN - 1738-3188
AB - This paper examines the phenomenon of occult capitalism underlying real estate narratives in Korean literature following the COVID-19 pandemic. The term “real estate fiction” here is not limited to stories of speculative housing acquisition and sales, but broadly encompasses various assetization practices, including cryptocurrency speculation. Focusing on characters who embody a speculative sensibility, this study explores shifts in perception that encompass affect and ethics toward others.
In post-pandemic real estate fiction, characters abandon capital accumulation through labor and instead engage in speculative ventures grounded in occult-like beliefs and assetization. The premodern gambler figure is reimagined as a new subject seeking survival strategies in the abstract world of financial capitalism. Economic deprivation and precarious conditions of life lead to a reconfiguration of ethical relations with others. As identification with the middle class persists, the intersection of deprivation and meritocratic ideology intensifies resentment and hostility toward neighbors. Within this affective politics and invisible ethical struggle, the structural issues of real estate are erased. The violence implicit in this system extends to the body, culminating in what this paper calls "gore real estate"—a space where even bodily harm or death becomes subsumed into the logic of assetization. This transformation marks a key feature of Korean-style occult capitalism, where the incomprehensible mechanisms of capital accumulation give rise to cold, affectless forms of violence.
Ultimately, this paper investigates how, under financial capitalism, bodies become increasingly abstracted, and systemic violence operates more intricately through internalized sensory experiences. By doing so, it critically engages with the reconfiguration of affective and ethical terrains surrounding the body and life itself, under the totalizing logic of assetization.
KW - Real Estate Fiction;Occult Economies;Violence of abstraction;Assetization;Gambling Subject;Gore Real Estate
DO -
UR -
ER -
KangJiHee. (2025). Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era. Journal of Popular Narrative, 31(2), 13-49.
KangJiHee. 2025, "Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era", Journal of Popular Narrative, vol.31, no.2 pp.13-49.
KangJiHee "Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era" Journal of Popular Narrative 31.2 pp.13-49 (2025) : 13.
KangJiHee. Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era. 2025; 31(2), 13-49.
KangJiHee. "Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era" Journal of Popular Narrative 31, no.2 (2025) : 13-49.
KangJiHee. Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era. Journal of Popular Narrative, 31(2), 13-49.
KangJiHee. Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era. Journal of Popular Narrative. 2025; 31(2) 13-49.
KangJiHee. Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era. 2025; 31(2), 13-49.
KangJiHee. "Real Estate Fiction and Occult Capitalism in the Post-Pandemic Era" Journal of Popular Narrative 31, no.2 (2025) : 13-49.
