Between Flesh and Miracle
Phenomenological Dimensions of Pain and Healing in The Green Mile
Bibliographic Data
This article examines the interaction between phenomenological illness theory and magical realism in Stephen King’s The Green Mile. It uses ideas from phenomenological psychopathology and illness narrative theory to explain how King presents supernatural events through a restrained and matter-of-fact narrative register. Instead of considering magical realism as a genre or a mere literary device, the article views magical realism as a stylistic mode that is produced by the tension between realistic descriptions and unexplained supernatural moments. Through a close reading of King’s prose, especially his diction, narrative voice and bodily descriptions, this study shows that John Coffey’s healing acts represent the otherwise incommunicable experience of suffering. These supernatural events make visible forms of institutional violence such as prison brutality, racial injustice and execution, which are often invisible in traditional realist narratives. This article also argues that magical realism is not limited to Latin American literature but can function effectively in American popular fiction. Finally, the findings suggest that, while magical realism may be helpful in exposing injustice and suffering, it may also have the danger of aestheticizing pain rather than fully transforming it into political critique
Injustice · Magic realism · Narrative · Politics · Realism · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
Magical Realism
An Embodied Predictive Processing Theory of Pain Experience
An Ever-Expanding World Literary Genre
Pathology as a phenomenological tool
The phenomenology of chronic pain
Transcultural magical realism
Conclusion
Martyrdom, Motherhood, and the Aetiology of Infanticide
Race, Disability and Abolition in Stephen King’s The Green Mile
The Role of the Aesthetic in Decolonial Critique
Religious Symbolism and Political Resistance
Pro-Violence Sermons of a Secular State
Religious Symbolism and the Experience of Life as Meaningful
Christian Shame and Religious Trauma
Dying for What? Secular Transformations of Martyrdom
Phenomenological Research Needs to be Renewed
Magic at the margins
Selling Pain to the Saturated Self
| Unique citing works | 1 |
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| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |