Ross King

fairy tale parody folk tales Swan Maiden motif intertextuality diasporic imagination

In this paper, I examine six modern retellings of the well-known Korean folktale, “Namukkun kwa sŏnnyŏ” (The Woodcutter and the Heavenly Maiden/Nymph). The ‘parodies’ I examine are Yun Hŭnggiľs short piece titled “Sŏnnyŏ ŭi nalgaeot” or “The fairy’s winged robes;” Kim Chi-wŏn’s 1992 short story, “Namukkun kwa sŏnnyŏ;”; Sim Sangdae’s 1990 retelling, titled “Namukkun ŭi ttŭt” (The woodcutter’s wish); Sŏ Ha-jin’s 1998 short story, “Namukkun kwa sŏnnyŏ;” Yun Yŏng-su’s 1998 short story, “Hanŭl yŏja [Sky woman]; and Angela Hur’s 2000 story in English, “Dust, light and water: Or, the woodcutter and the fairy, revisited.” The approach adopted is informed by theoretical work in intertextuality and ‘parody’ from North America, Europe and Korea. In particular, it also incorporates insights from feminist literary criticism and research on fairy tale parodies in Europe and North America. The paper concludes with a discussion of salient elements from the retellings, such as seduction/rape; clothing~disrobing~nakedness; nymph as mother/nymph as alien; male-female and husband-wife sexual politics; and filial piety vs. mother dependence from a Freudian perspective.