Soju

Abstract

This thesis, written in novel form, is a study in love addiction. Set in Seoul, South Korea, it follows the journey of Colton Nash — a journalist and a drunk — as he falls in love with a girl named Hana and travels along his arc of addiction. A work of “dirty realism,” Soju: A Novel is written in a neo-minimalistic style that focuses on showing, not telling the reader about Colton's experiences as a stranger in a strange land. By eliminating as many “thought” verbs as possible and focusing on active, bouncing, vivid verbs, the aim was to pull the reader into Colton's world. A world foreign to most readers. This cannot be accomplished by using active verbs alone. No. Limiting the amount of adverbs, extended metaphors and internal dialogue, being economical with words, focusing on surface details and “on-the-body” writing were all stylistic choices made to engage the reader on a more visceral level and, hopefully, pull them deeper into the story and Colton's addiction.