Cultural Transfer and the Re-representation of Reality: Barn Burning in Faulkner, Murakami, and Lee Chang-dong’s Film

December 9, 2024

👤Author

Name: Dan SHAO
Affiliation: : Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan
Contact: danaeshao@tufs.ac.jp

📄Article

Citation Recommendation: Shao, Dan. ‟Cultural Transfer and the Re-representation of Reality: Barn Burning in Faulkner, Murakami, and Lee Chang-dong’s Film”. Synthesis, 3 / 2024: 25-49.
Pages: 25-49
Language: English
URL:https://synthesis.ro/pdf/2024/3/2_Shao.pdf

Abstract

This paper examines the cultural transpositions and shifts in symbolic meaning of the “barn burning” motif through William Faulkner’s Barn Burning (1939), Haruki Murakami’s Barn Burning (1983), and Lee Chang-dong’s film adaptation Burning (버닝, 2018). Through a comparative analysis, the study delves into the socio-economic underpinnings and contextual metamorphoses that transform the barn from a productive manorial setting of the American South to an emblem of urban marginalization in Murakami’s work, culminating in a signifier of agricultural decline in Lee’s narrative. Interweaving the theoretical framework of world literature, this paper spotlights the divergent realities these texts embody and propagate. It investigates how the notion of “reality” is translated and recontextualized across cultural borders, and how meanings are variously appropriated and reimagined in the realm of world literature. The intertextual study thus emphasizes the complexities in the transmission of symbolic cultural assets, shedding light on the varied interpretations and implications of the barn burning motif as it transcends and evolves through time and space.

Key-words: Cultural Transpositions, Barn Burning, William Faulkner, Haruki Murakami, Lee Chang-dong, Reality.

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