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Desire and the Subject in “Deceptive Simulation Narratives”

  • Journal of Korean Literature
  • 2026, (53), pp.213~246
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature
  • Received : March 31, 2026
  • Accepted : May 10, 2026
  • Published : May 30, 2026

Kim Yu Jin 1

1덕성여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate the “Deceptive Simulation Narratives” in Korean pre-modern fiction from the 17th to the early 20th century to identify the regime of desire through which desire is produced, deployed, and managed by power and discourse. These narratives employ narrative markers such as Simulated ghosts or Simulated transcendents to deceive and enlighten the protagonist through a form of role-play. By analyzing how erotic desire and transcendental desire are processed through these deceptive mechanisms, this paper explores the existential trajectories of the desiring subject. The second chapter analyzes Jongokjeon (鍾玉傳) and Miingye (美人計), which feature simulated ghost narratives. Erotic desire is a “productive desire” that presupposes mortality and contributes to social reproduction, making it conditionally permissible within the social system. While the deception temporarily places the subject in a state of “bare life” and exposes their hidden desire to ridicule, the subject eventually re-territorializes this desire into the social order through the experience of shame, walking the path of “growth” and “return”. The third chapter examines Geumgangtanyurok (金剛誕遊錄) and Samseongi (三仙記), which feature Simulated transcendent narratives. Transcendental desire is categorized as an “unproductive desire” subject to strong sanctions because it seeks transcendence and denies the foundation of social reproduction. In Geumgangtanyurok, the subject realizes that transcendental desire is an unattainable illusion and ultimately faces “catastrophe,” being completely excluded from the social relationship network. Conversely, the subject in Samseongi internalizes shame as a form of reflection, reaching a “shift” (conversion) and “existential exile” by re-deploying the transcendental desire into a new mode of existence as a “terrestrial transcendent”. The fourth chapter provides a historical overview of how these narrative patterns evolved as they spread into oral and vernacular forms in the 18th century. The transition from the physical violence of absolute power to social shame, along with the de-mystification of the subject through grotesque exposure, illustrates the evolution of power technologies for controlling desire. In conclusion, the “Deceptive Simulation Narratives” are not merely a record of tricks but a paradoxical narrative of governance and resistance. It demonstrates how the desiring subject, mediated by the social sanction of shame, either settles into the social system or escapes its boundaries through existential flight.

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