시적 언어와 유령의 정치학: 토니 모리슨의 『빌러비드』 와 한강의『소년이 온다』비교

The Politics of Poetic Language and Haunting: A Comparative Study of Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Han Kang’s Human Acts

This study examines how Nobel laureates Toni Morrison and Han Kang employ poetic language and spectral presences to bear witness to state violence and historical trauma in Beloved and Human Acts. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s testimonial impossibility and Jacques Derrida’s hauntology, this analysis demonstrates how both authors transform language into a political act challenging official narratives. Morrison’s metaphorical, rhythmic prose rooted in African American oral traditions extends individual trauma into collective memory, while Han’s restrained, sensory language and second-person narration create an ethical imperative to confront others’ suffering. The ghosts in both novels function as political agents demanding justice for unresolved historical injustices—slavery and the Gwangju Uprising. This comparative study reveals both the universal literary significance and distinctive cultural specificities of these works, affirming literature’s power to resist forgetting and advocate for historical justice.