The Character of ‘Passive Hero’ in the Narrative Structures of Korea’s Premodern Literature

Abstract

This article examines the figure of the passive hero first in the Korean literature of origins, and then in classical Korean literature of the Koryŏ and Chosŏn periods. After a general introductory section, in which the worldwide literary archetype of the hero and its evolution over time are examined, the author, specifically examining Korean literature, analyzes in part one the passive heroes of four short historical/mythological stories variously set in an era between the second and eighth centuries, and then part two of the article analyzes three passive hero figures as protagonists of one 14th-century tale and two 18th-century classic novels. The author thus shows how the narrative of the passive hero has undergone a significant transformation in Korea, passing from a mythical/spiritual state (which often does not even admit the figure of an antagonist) to a decidedly secular, materialist and politicized condition where the protagonists find themselves facing cultural superstructures which, in addition to generating antagonists, push passive heroes towards true forms of defensive fundamentalism.