TIME, CRYONICS, AND CULTURAL IMAGINATION IN KOREAN AND AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PERFECT SOCIETY AND THE DOOR INTO SUMMER

Abstract

This article is an undertaking of a comparative analysis of two representative science fiction works from Korea and the United States, Mun Yun-seong (문윤성)’s The Perfect Society (완전사회) and Robert Heinlein’s The Door into Summer, with a particular focus on cryonic narratives and their treatment of time. Drawing on Darko Suvin’s concepts of cognitive estrangement and novum, alongside Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, the study examines how differing cultural values shape narrative structures, character motivations, and imagined futures. The analysis demonstrates that while both novels employ cryonic preservation as a shared novum, they assign it distinct meanings that reflect contrasting cultural orientations, particularly in terms of collectivism versus individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and temporal orientation. The findings suggest that Korean science fiction articulates time and human existence through a collective and future oriented framework, whereas American science fiction foregrounds individual agency and personal fulfilment. The article concludes that integrating cultural theory with science fiction studies offers a productive framework for understanding East-West differences in science fiction and provides a valuable foundation for further comparative research on Korean science fiction within global literary discourse.