서사적 전환기 시대의 소설과 대중성 －김호연의 『불편한 편의점』을 중심으로－

Abstract

This study focused on Kim Ho-yeon's consciousness as a writer and his popular appeal in his novel The Inconvenient Convenience Store by perceiving the 2010s as a "narrative transition period." Here, the decade was called a narrative transition period based on the changed situation of the literature field under the influence of web novels and webtoons that rapidly emerged in the latter part of 2010 and the impacts of "COVID-19," which broke out in 2019, on literature during the pandemic era. The rapid rise of web novels in the late 2010s has huge impacts on the writer's perception changes. When they have experienced the influence of such cultural content as web novels and webtoons, even writers of serious novels change their consideration for readers in their writing. The pandemic situation that began in 2019 reinforced further his attitude that changed toward readers. His goal of writing became novels of heartwarming content that would give readers comfort and consolation during the pandemic era. The Inconvenient Convenience Store by Kim that has embraced this narrative transition period holds elements of popular appeal as a bestseller. There are a couple of important factors that contribute to its huge attraction among readers. It gives catharsis to readers by showing the problem-solving processes. Its content is based on heartwarming humanism around the family. Finally, the conversations and moods among the characters similar to lines in a play have very comical farce nature and accordingly give comfort to readers suffering from the accumulated sense of fatigue.