Dufu’s Self-Writing and Literature Healing

What kind of meaning of life Dufu faced and reflected on his hardships and adversities is well revealed in Dufu’s own narrative. Starting with an objective reflection of looking at his life and life contemplatively in poetry, Dufu narrates the pain and conflict inherent in human life well, and even reveals a human will to overcome it.<br/> The biggest reason Dufu’s self-narrative has the characteristics of literary healing is that he reflected objectively and deeply on his reality through his own narrative, did not just despair or lament, but set the meaning of life and pursued it consistently. Setting meaning and value in enough life to cover up his unfortunate life and vomiting the anguish and frustration for his implementation in detail in poetry for a lifetime gave Dufu the strength to endure reality. This is because in the process of revealing oneself, he gained the power to heal himself by revealing hidden problems and reflecting on them, and realizing his role and direction of life. Dufu also experienced the same effect as counseling healing by objectifying and reflecting on himself through his own narrative.<br/> The fact that Dufu tried to realize the “logos” hidden in his existence even in the tragic life journey and endured the ordeal by trying to realize values that would penetrate his entire life until his death is consistent with the meaning-healing characteristics of Logotherapy. In particular, it is consistent with Frankel’s theory that human attitudes toward life in search of the meaning of life are more important than anything else even in the face of pain and adversity. Dufu’s consistent giving of meaning to life and active self-worth expression through constant self-narratives in poetry played a literary healing role for Dufu.<br/> Dufu’s autobiographical healing proceeds in two simple and difficult ways: self-seeking in the world and continuous pursuit of meaning in life. Dufu pursued himself in the world through social self-awareness, which is consistent with Victor Frankel’s statement that &quotthe meaning of true life must be found in the world rather than in oneself.&quot Self-seeking in the world eventually weakens the sadness of individual selves, and a sense of social responsibility made them realize the reason for survival to overcome the sadness and stand up again. Dufu’s consistent goal of life to save the world and help govern the people a little, and his continued pursuit of a meaningful life for this kept Dufu from letting go until the moment he died.<br/> Dufu’s per-hour self-narrative was a constant self-healing in the way Dufu himself could do best. The continued pursuit of a meaningful life made Dufu forget the practical difficulties a little bit and gave him existential hope that if he persevered through a difficult day, the shining sun of tomorrow could rise.