LITERARY TRADITION IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT: PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING AND DREAM JOURNEY IN SOUTH KOREAN LITERATURE

Abstract

The paper deals with contemporary representations of two classical plot models: Peach Blossom Spring (武陵桃源) and Dream Journey (夢遊錄) originated in Chinese literature tradition and were peculiarly developed in pre-modern Korean literature. The paper discusses their representations in South Korean poetry and prose. The analysis shows, that Peach Blossom Spring as a social utopia enters Korean literature both in an ironical context and as an opposition to the city life preoccupied with everyday vanity. The majority cases is when it serves the base for contemporary stories of an ideal place quest with the protagonist realizing the false character of the ideal. The case of the reversed usage of the Dream Journey plot in the existential story The Journey to Mujun by Kim Seung-ok has been analysed by the A. F. Trotsevich. The paper will render another case with a lost opportunity to wake up after the realization of mistakes. The paper bases on the works of widely known South Korean writers/poets as Choe In-ho, Jeong Hyon-jong, Ha Il-ji and others making the conclusion on the main transformational trends in the plot models.