Naslov
Spekulativna fikcija, nacija i (njihove) epidemije: (o) bolesti(ma) u romanu On Such a Full Sea Chang-rae Leeja

Autori
Škvorc, Boris

Izvornik
Književna smotra : Časopis za svjetsku književnost (2459-6329) 53 (2021), 201(3); 93-106

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Spekulativni realizam, epidemija Chang-rea Lee, promjena
(Key words: speculative realism, epidemic, Chang-rae Lee, limits of humanist approach, Korean Stud- ies, American Studies, literature and the ability to change)

Sažetak
On Such a Full Sea is a fifth novel by the Korean American author Chang-rae Lee. In the context of this article the questions of speculative realism and specu- lative fiction are examined, as well as the idea of dystopian novel. In the introductory part, the ques- tions of genre and its examples in various literary corpuses is placed in a comparative context. Then the focus shifts on how Lee’s novel both follows the pat- tern of the genre and also resists it in two ways: by employing plural position of narration (we instead of I) and by focusing on anthropological rather than sci- entific aspect of “speculative fabulation”. In the first part of the analysis Lee is located within the corpus of American and Korean literatures, as well as in the body of speculative fiction that is driven by ethical issues embedded in contemporary “world problems” concerning refugees, environmental issues and class structure of western societies and the rest of the world. In the central part of the article a question of C-ill- ness, the fictional epidemic, is presented by way of close reading of issues that Lee discusses on ethical and structural level. In conclusion the question of dystopia is problematized in other types of novels, rather than only in SF. The examples are so called “emigrant prose” and novels concerned with identity crises in contemporary postmodern (and perhaps post- humanist) society. Lee’s novels are read in the con- text of works by Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Haruki Murakami and others. There is also a brief comparison with modern and contemporary Croatian dystopian prose, with a sole purpose to pr ovide an appropriate context for possible translation. The con- clusion is provided by a short discussion about the way the epidemic is reflected in a wider society.

Izvorni jezik
Hrvatski

POVEZANOST RADA