@article{ART003314702},
author={LimJungmin},
title={The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’},
journal={The Research of the Korean Classic},
issn={1226-3850},
year={2026},
number={72},
pages={233-268}
TY - JOUR
AU - LimJungmin
TI - The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’
JO - The Research of the Korean Classic
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 72
PB - The Research Of The Korean Classic
SP - 233
EP - 268
SN - 1226-3850
AB - This study aimed to reexamine the narrative meaning of ‘loneliness’ in 〈Manboksajeopogi〉 through the lens of the latest affect theory, known as the ‘affective turn’. It particularly focused on how the emotion of ‘loneliness,’ traversing the entire narrative, induces practical changes in the subject’s body and relationships.
Chapter 2 analyzes the operational mechanisms of loneliness and its corresponding bodily manifestations across three dimensions. First, it demonstrates that the encounter between Yangsaeng and the woman transcends mere coincidence, becoming an inevitable meeting driven by affective attraction between subjects, based on the process of bodily contact rooted in the homogeneity of emotion. Second, based on the asymmetry of emotion, it examined how the process of bodies being distinguished leads to differences in how loneliness is imprinted on the body, resulting in differing attitudes toward the other and positioning the two characters’ bodies on distinct ontological layers. Third. Based on the layering of emotions, it analyzed how individual isolation is amplified into collective affect through the process of bodies connecting, binding the characters’ bodies into a single emotional current. This process demonstrates that ‘loneliness’ is a practical energy mediating between bodies.
Chapter 3 discusses the narrative significance of ‘loneliness’ in 〈Manboksajeopogi〉 based on this analysis. ‘Loneliness’ possesses a ‘mediating agency for subject transformation,’ compelling Yangsaeng to imprint the suffering of others onto his own body, abandon worldly values, and retreat to Mount Jiri. Furthermore, ‘loneliness’ is not merely a motif consumed sporadically at specific narrative junctures; it forms circuits of affective economy and secures the ‘concreteness of literary form’ that grounds the narrative’s overarching inevitability. In conclusion, this study holds significance in elevating emotion within classical novels from an accessory accompanying a character’s circumstances to a core principle that actively reconfigures the work’s worldview. This transcends existing discourse that perceived ‘loneliness’ in early novels as a homogeneous mass, opening new horizons for genre studies that focus on the micro-manifestations of affect and their differences.
KW - 〈Manboksajeopogi〉;Affective Turn;emotion;circulation;effect;loneliness;body
DO -
UR -
ER -
LimJungmin. (2026). The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’. The Research of the Korean Classic, 72, 233-268.
LimJungmin. 2026, "The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’", The Research of the Korean Classic, no.72, pp.233-268.
LimJungmin "The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’" The Research of the Korean Classic 72 pp.233-268 (2026) : 233.
LimJungmin. The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’. 2026; 72 : 233-268.
LimJungmin. "The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’" The Research of the Korean Classic no.72(2026) : 233-268.
LimJungmin. The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’. The Research of the Korean Classic, 72, 233-268.
LimJungmin. The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’. The Research of the Korean Classic. 2026; 72 233-268.
LimJungmin. The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’. 2026; 72 : 233-268.
LimJungmin. "The Narrative Significance of Emotion in Manboksajeopogi : Focusing on the Body Shaped by ‘Loneliness’" The Research of the Korean Classic no.72(2026) : 233-268.
