KJCKorea
Journal Central

A Study analyzes affective transformations present within the sequential structure of ‘moving-stopping’ in the Korean geomorphological origin legend of the ‘Island That Floated In and Stopped,’ employing a new materialist perspective. Twelve transmitted legends exhibit contrasting affects: some versions express awe and wonder towards the vitality and dynamism of nature, whereas others reflect negative affects regarding women’s actions that halt the islands or the islands’ eventual locations. Previous studies predominantly interpret these negative affects as outcomes of patriarchal transformations negatively impacting female deities. This research further highlights the affective transformations and narrative complexities arising from human recognition and responses to natural vitality. Drawing on new materialism, the study identifies affective transformations as affects emerging from interconnected vitality shared by humans and nature (matter). When islands’ movements are controlled by human intention, negative affects emerge through the narrative logic of ‘taboo-disclosure.’ Conversely, positive affects develop through ‘response-interaction,’ which emphasizes respect, naming, and mutual responsiveness with nature. This narrative approach is argued to represent an animistic imagination, exploring coexistence possibilities beyond anthropocentric worldviews. Ultimately, the legend offers narrative principles supporting affective coexistence between humans and nature, advocating the overcoming of anthropocentrism and the establishment of symbiotic human-nature relationships in response to contemporary ecological crises.

Novels are a literary genre that considers the formation of empathy as an important internal and external motivating force. This study examines the method and meaning of the representation of body empathy in Korean classical novels by paying particular attention to the phenomenon in which the pain of and empathy for characters are embodied at the physical level. The human body has not only “finitude” and “vulnerability” but also has “active agency,” and these dual attributes of the body play a role in provoking empathy between humans and maximizing its effects. The keyword “body empathy” in this study means sharing the feelings or consciousness of others through the body as a medium. Body empathy for the pain of the main character in Korean classical novels appears actively in other characters or the narrator, especially in popular novels from the late Joseon Dynasty, such as Sukhyangjeon in the late 17C. Therefore, this study examines how body empathy for a character’s pain is embodied in those novels, focusing on Sukhyangjeon and comparing it with Sohyeonseongrok and Sukyeongnangjajeon in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 of this study discusses the significance and limitations of the representation of body empathy in these novels. Through this process, this study clarifies one of the main methods by which Korean classical novels fostered empathy among readers of that time. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to gain insight into the potential when body empathy is used in contemporary narratives and what areas we should be aware of.

This study examines the narrative function and significance of the family that assumes a central role in place of state authority in the Korean classical novel Hwaseon Seongyerok, set during a dynastic transition. While most Korean long novels focus on the prosperity of noble families and the personal success of protagonists, using national crises merely as a background device, Hwaseon Seongyerok uniquely foregrounds the dynastic change as a major narrative axis and depicts in detail the process by which a single family substitutes for the functions of a failing state. The Wi family not only contributes to the legitimacy of the new dynasty through its close relationship with the founder Jo Gwang-yun, but also integrates displaced royal descendants and refugees, reconstituting fragmented communities and restoring social order. In this respect, the Wi family functions not merely as a loyal subject or collaborator, but emerges as an ethical and political agent that temporarily replaces the state during its absence. However, the family’s active intervention is not simply a source of honor. Once the new dynasty stabilizes, the very acts that supported its founding are reinterpreted as signs of treason, placing the Wi family’s survival in jeopardy. That a founding family and key contributor to dynastic legitimacy can so swiftly become a target for political elimination reveals the ambivalence embedded in the narrative toward state power. The protagonist Wi Hyeon’s decision to retreat from politics and return to seclusion in Mount Hwasan is thus not a mere withdrawal, but a strategic act of preservation. This motif echoes the earlier narrative of Cheonsuseok, the preceding work, where the Wi family, despite its proximity to the throne, is similarly exiled after falling victim to palace intrigue. Both novels suggest that intimate involvement with public power carries inherent risk and that maintaining a measured distance from the state may be the only viable path to survival. Such narratives signal an attempt by Korean long novels to critically reimagine the relationship between state and family. Hwaseon Seongyerok explores the political potential of the family as a substitute for the state while at the same time rendering the tensions and vulnerabilities that arise from such substitution. In doing so, the family is portrayed as a self-governing and adaptive entity that must continually assess its position and make decisions for its own preservation. Given the prevalence of narratives involving the decline and recovery of noble families in 19th-century Korean fiction, Hwaseon Seongyerok reflects a historical consciousness in which public authority is no longer seen as an unquestionably reliable force. Ultimately, this novel is not merely a story of familial glory, but a meaningful narrative experiment that probes how the institution of the family is redefined and restructured within the volatile dynamics of state power.