The Poetics of Modern South Korean Healing Novels

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the poetic features of modern South Korean healing novels as a new literary phenomenon that meets the reader’s needs for psychological and emotional healing. The paper considers Heo Taeyeon novel «Hakuda studio», Kim Yeun’s «Mysterious chocolate shop» and Lee Sunyoung’s «Botero family’s love pharmacy» as representative examples of the genre. The methodological basis of the research is the concept of M. M. Bakhtin’s chronotope, complemented by elements of narrative, motivic, and cultural-historical analysis. The study revealed the key features of the poetics of the healing novel: the importance of space (pharmacy, photo studio, pastry shop) as a symbolic place of healing, the meditative structure of the plot is based on alternating character stories, as well as central themes of love, illness, light and darkness, internal traumas and their overcoming. It is shown that the chronotope in these works does not act as a background, but as an active element of the narrative, contributing to the creation of a cozy, protected world, opposed to the pressure of modern society.

About the authors

Evgeniya Andreevna Ponkratova

Moscow State Linguistic University

Author for correspondence.
Email: evgeniyaponkratova@yandex.ru

PhD Student at the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature; Lecturer at the Department of Oriental Languages

Russian Federation

References

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