[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-145283-en":3,"doc-seo-145283-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},145283,5909887254083,"\tWilliam","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",2,"Literature","Transmission of Meaning through Comics: Korean Graphic Novels Portraying the Korean War - Article","The paper examines Geonung Park’s Geu yeoreumnarui gieok (Memories of Those Summer Days, 2019) and Kim Geumsuk’s Gidarim (The Waiting, 2020), two Korean graphic novels depicting the Korean War (1950–1953). It highlights how meaning is communicated through comics’ hybrid combination of cultural, visual, and textual elements. Park’s work centers on the Nogeunri massacre (26–29 July 1950), while Kim’s focuses on memory and the postwar aftermath, including family reunions 70 years later. An interdisciplinary framework uses trauma and memory studies—especially cultural trauma (Jeffrey C. Alexander)—and semiotics via denotation and connotation (Roland Barthes) to analyze how the medium constructs remembrance and historical significance.","ActA UniversitAtis sApientiAe, philologicA, 17 , 1 (2025) 170–188  \nDOI: 10 47745/ausp-2025-0011  \nTransmission of Meaning through Comics: Korean Graphic Novels Portraying the Korean War  \nMihaela DAVID  \nUniversity of Bucharest (Bucharest, Romania)  \nDepartment of Korean Studies  \ndavidmihaela2001@yahoo com [https://orcid org/0009-0005-8869-8793](https://orcid org/0009-0005-8869-8793)  \nAbstract. This paper analyses Geonung Park’s Geu yeoreumnarui gieok (Memories of Those Summer Days) , published in 2019, and Kim Geumsuk’s Gidarim (The Waiting), published in 2020, two Korean graphic novels that portray the Korean War (1950–1953) The aim of the paper is to show the manner in which meaning is conveyed in comics Park’s graphic novel focuses on a largely unknown event from the Korean War, which is the Nogeunri massacre (26–29 July 1950), when American soldiers killed hundreds of South Korean civilian refugees, while Kim’s graphic novel focuses more on the memory and the aftermath of the Inter-Korean War, when families were able to reunite, 70 years after the conflict. The first graphic novel can only be found in Korean, whereas Kim’s novel has been translated into English, a year after its publication, but the object of analysis is the original, Korean version This paper discusses the two graphic novels through an interdisciplinary approach, from the perspective of trauma and memory studies, with a focus on the concept of “cultural trauma,” theorized by Jeffrey C Alexander, as well as through a semiotic approach, focusing on the concepts of “denotation” and “connotation,” as discussed by Roland Barthes, in order to portray the means through which a hybrid medium, such as comics, combines cultural, visual, and textual aspects to create meaning 1  \nKeywords: meaning, comics, Korean graphic novels, trauma, memory, semiotics  \n1 This article is part of my PhD dissertation – currently in progress – in Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Bucharest  \nMeaning in Comics  \nTransmission of meaning lies at the basis of communication It is a way of expressing ideas, emotions, and even of sharing culture It implies not only direct, verbal communication but also a process of decoding, of understanding the cultural context, of being able to recognize the implied message In literature, meaning can be conveyed through numerous means, not only in traditional texts, such as novels or poetry, but also in modern literature such as comics I employ the term comics, which is the name of the medium that includes various subcategories such as comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels The works I analyse – Geu yeoreumnarui gieok (Memories of Those Summer Days) by Park Geonung and Gidarim (The Waiting) by Kim Geumsuk – are Korean graphic novels – or manhwa – that portray the theme of the Korean War, a monumental event in recent Korean history that has deeply shaped Korean identity Manhwa is the Korean term used for comics, but it is also a culturally specific genre, rather than being only the direct translation of the English word The term applies to Korean comic books, graphic novels, or even digital comics called webtoons Consequently, the works I analyse are simultaneously manhwa and graphic novels However, for the sake of continuity, I refer to them as graphic novels throughout this article  \nFor a better understanding of the concepts I employ, I will start the discussion with the definition of comics. Scott McCloud, one of the most prominent theorists of comics, proposes a broad definition: “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce anaesthetic response in the viewer” (1994, 9) . A more recent definition, offered by Jack Phoenix, describes comics as graphic narratives accompanied by words usually displayed in boxes or bubbles, flowing through the page usually in panels, typically from left to right (2020, 2) Phoenix employs the concept of“graphic narrative,” which is","cbCait939MFdPkUb","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCait939MFdPkUb","pdf",3128145,4,1,19,"English","en",105,"# Meaning in Comics\n## Comics as a hybrid medium\n## Interpreting narrative through visual-text interaction\n## Comics, history, trauma, and memory","[{\"question\":\"Which Korean graphic novels are analyzed in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The study analyzes Geonung Park’s Geu yeoreumnarui gieok (Memories of Those Summer Days, 2019) and Kim Geumsuk’s Gidarim (The Waiting, 2020).\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper explain the way meaning is conveyed in comics?\",\"answer\":\"Meaning is produced not only through verbal content but also through the interaction between images and text, forming a hybrid medium that combines cultural, visual, and textual aspects.\"},{\"question\":\"What theoretical approaches guide the analysis?\",\"answer\":\"The paper applies trauma and memory studies with the concept of “cultural trauma” (Jeffrey C. Alexander) and semiotics focused on denotation and connotation (Roland Barthes).\"}]","Transmission of Meaning through Comics: Korean Graphic Novels Portraying the Korean War - Article | PDF",1787719730,29,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":29},"transmission-of-meaning-through-comics-korean-graphic-novels-portraying-the-korean-war-article","",{"@graph":37,"@context":85},[38,53,68],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/transmission-of-meaning-through-comics-korean-graphic-novels-portraying-the-korean-war-article/145283/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":42,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05","2026-08-26",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Which Korean graphic novels are analyzed in the paper?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The study analyzes Geonung Park’s Geu yeoreumnarui gieok (Memories of Those Summer Days, 2019) and Kim Geumsuk’s Gidarim (The Waiting, 2020).","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does the paper explain the way meaning is conveyed in comics?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Meaning is produced not only through verbal content but also through the interaction between images and text, forming a hybrid medium that combines cultural, visual, and textual aspects.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What theoretical approaches guide the analysis?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The paper applies trauma and memory studies with the concept of “cultural trauma” (Jeffrey C. 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