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“Boyang and Yimok” of Samgukyusa shows four episodes of Buddhist Priest Boyang’s deeds, that are ‘Sea Dragon’s Palace, ‘Beginning of Jakgapsa’, ‘Yimok brings rain’, have been brought to attention in that they show a unique variation while succeeding various narrative traditions. The episode of Sea Dragon’s Palace succeeds the old tradition of Buddhist storytelling that is rooted in the episode of Buddha’s visit to ‘Sea Dragon’s Palace and it presents the motif of sending Sea Dragon’s son to serve a buddhist priest. It also shows a unique variation that cannot be found in previous narratives by placing the episode at the beginning of the story and telling the whole story by the Sea Dragon. Though the motif of sending Dragon’s son is briefly mentioned in the motif of sending the eldest son of Taewhaji’s Dragon as Guard Dragon of Hwangryongsa, the main theme is realized in the Cheoyong Tale. The former functions as a national guard dragon, while the latter plays a role of popular god who defend them from evils through rituals. It is similar to the role of Yimok as a practical god who rains for the people. Both of them also show considerable similarities in narrative levels. The reason why we should give attention to the motif of sending sea dragon’s son is that it sheds some light not only to the tale of “Boyang and Yimok” that is transmitted orally around Unmoonsa but also to Samgukyusa. The tale of Samgukyusa treats the Yimok and pear tree as the same, while the oral tale tells the story of move of Yimok who leaves Boyang. Yimok became people’s god in the oral tale and the object of rain ritual, while in Samgukyusa, he became identical with a pear tree and transformed to a door bar of a Buddhist temple hall, thus completely incorporated in the Buddhist world. The difference between the oral tale and Samgukyusa stems from the different world views. The visit of a buddhist monk to sea dragon’s palace shows the process of eastward expansion of Buddist religion from china. The episode of sea dragon’s palace in “Boyang and Yimok” reflects cultural context of Unmoonsa area and succeeds the Buddhist narrative tradition through the motif of sending of sea dragon’s son. While the oral tale delineates the discontent against the Buddhist world view through the episode of move of Yimok, Samgukyusa attemps to incorporate and resolve the conflicts between the indigenous and buddhist beliefs through the process of identification of Yimok and pear tree. Ilyeon seems to attempt to reflect the cultural context of the area in order to realize this world view in his narrative by succeeding both Buddhist tradition and various forms of popular narrative tradition.

This dissertation was written for the purpose to suggest some problems that were unsolved in existing discussions about Je-mang-mae-ga and to offer solutions for them. I divided the problems by three categories: linguistic problem, logical problem, and situational problem. The solutions of these problems could be found in a new interpretation of the lyrics of it. The focus of this interpretation was a change in understanding of the listener. I thought that the listener of the song was not the sister of Wol-myeong(the author of Je-mang-mae-ga), but the people who participated in Cheon-do-jae(the ritual that guides the soul of dead person to paradise) and helped to go through the ritual. In the course of developing this thought, firstly, I opposed to an opinion that the letter ‘吾’(‘oh’ that means ‘I’ or ‘We’) had two references. In this opinion, while ‘吾’ referred to the dead sister of Wol-myeong in the fore part, it meant ‘I’(Wol-myeong) in the latter part. Instead, I interpreted it as ‘u-ri’(the plural form of ‘I’) that included not only Wol-myeong but also the people. On the base of this interpretation, Je-mang-mae-ga could consistently considered as a locutionary act from Wol-myeong to the people. In addition to that, I tried to establish a logical consistency of the interpretation of Je-mang-mae-ga by re-deciphering several problematic phrases. As having performed Ceon-do-jae for his sister, Wol-myeong aroused the people in the situation human limitation that they had to be trapped in Samsara(the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth). Furthermore, he suggested the truth that people had to trust the teaching of Buddha and rightly improve their minds for escaping from the repeat of Samsara. Eventually, it was Wol-myeong’s intention being projected in this song that, if people could go to paradise by practicing the truth, they did not only wander around Samsara but also could support their precious connections in the human world. At the point of this view, Je-mang-mae-ga could be defined as the positive missionary song of Buddhism.

This thesis examined the fetal movement and variableness of Jeongye novels through the creative motivation and narration strategies of the 17th century Jeongye novels. Lee Hang-bok’s <Yuyeonjeon> describes the real-life events of Yuyeon’s imprisonment and taking revenge in order to accuse and criticize Hugupa, and Gwonchik’s <Ganrojeon> deals with historical events to justify the Seoin group and the writer’s own position and highlights Ganghonglip as negative character embodiment. The trend of the creative motivation and narration strategies represented in the 17th century Jeongye novels continues in the 18th century as well and is regarded as what is noteworthy in the path of realism in the history of ancient novels.

This study examines Yi Ok’s(1760–1815) biographies of exemplary people, focusing on the “Tale of Such’ik” in comparison with the biography works written by Sŏng Haeŭng(1760–1839) and Yi Kŏnch’ang(1852–1898). Yi highlighted Such’ik’s life sufferings caused by upholding female chastity rather than depicting her as an epitaph of female virtues who willingly sacrificed her private pleasure. Yi created and re-organized anecdotes that represent Such’ik’s loneliness and expressed his dissatisfaction with the belated rewards bestowed upon Such’ik. Yi also depicted the geographic location in which Such’ik lived, believed to be his own creation, to represent her as an extraordinary being rather than enumerating a chronological series of events, as in traditional biographical works. Yi adopted literary devices that enabled Yi to run counter to traditional conventions of biography. Traditionally, biographies of exemplary women largely aim to reveal the historical significance of a person as a sound component of a Neo-Confucian society and also reaffirm the effectiveness of Neo-Confucianism, a state ideology, to cultivate people and enlighten the Chosŏn society. However, Yi Ok’s story leads readers to doubt the seemingly satisfying lives of exemplary women and recognize that appropriate rewards and public recognition are essential to make people’s lives worthy. By weakening didactic themes of the biography, Yi was able to reveal the inner-self of the woman subject who lived a bitter life.

The purpose of this research study is to consider the awareness of ideal couple appearing in long novels in Korean, and its meaning, focusing on Hyeon Cheon-rin and his wives. Leading this work with Hyeon Ung-rin, Hyeon Cheon-rin had suffered from the serious conflicts between his spouses. One of the major causes was derived from a difference of the awareness about sleeping with. So it can be said that this work investigates the concern about ideal couple relationships in order to consider and shed new light on the conflict patterns between Hyeon Cheon-rin couples and the meanings. For this purpose, this research study is to examine the patterns to shed new light on the patterns of the relationships between Hyeon Cheon-rin and his spouses, above all, and to examine the time Hyeon Cheon-rin married three wives and one concubine and he slept with them, and the attitude for sex as well as the awareness of couple that most people had. Based on it, it is confirmed that emotional intimacy and physical harmony are the important factors of ideal couple relationships.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the aspects and the meanings of intertextuality represented in Yuiyangmunrok. The intertextuality means the entirety of every knowledge represented between texts in a broad sense and the quotation or reference of other text written in the given text in a narrow sense. In this thesis I analyzed the aspects and the meanings of intertextuality represented in Yuiyangmunrok in respect of intertextuality in a narrow sense. The intertextuality aspects shown in Yuiyangmunrok can be found in Yuwuseong of <Yuhyogongseonhaengrok> series and Leehyeongyeong of <Leehyeongyeongjeon> series. The former is a representative work of Family novel and the latter is a representative work of Female heroic novels. Therefore, to summon the two texts means the combination of Family novels and Female heroic novels. Yuiyangmunrok accepts a Yuhyogongseonhaengrok series fractionally. By contrast, <Yuiyang- munrok> accepts <Leehyeongyeongjeon> actively. Judging from this, I identified that <Yuiyangmunrok> has the woman oriented character. On the one hand, the Yuhyogongseonhaengrok series and Leehyeon- gyeongjeon are the texts whose popularities are assured. By summoning of the two texts, readers will meet a experience text in Yuiyangmunrok. Readers will feel freshness such as the variants of text and be glad to meet the text which has been already read. Therefore, the author of Yuiyangmunrok might have summoned the two texts as the communication strategy to make readable stories.

This study aims for examining Limwhajungyoen, a full-length classic novel written in Korean, using the notion of ‘political nature’, which is frequently defined as a movement that stands against the hegemony of dominant culture and identity, causes crack in ‘public security(reigning)’, thus turns the process of equality into an actuality. The reason this study now puts its focus on political nature of Limwhajungyoen despite a number of preceding studies the key words of which were politics-related notions like ‘riot control(靖難變)’, ‘meritorious families(閥閱)’, and ‘solidarity of families(家門連帶)’, is that the existing politics-related arguments were made mainly with male characters on the center of considerations. This made it plausible that if we equaly focus on the acts and experience of the other half of population, we may draw a new interpretation related with ‘political nature’. Another reason of choosing Limwhajungyoen as subject of examination is that the novel is a piece of popular literature which is in contrast with gentry literature, and was read in around 19th century, late Joseon Dynasty period. I wondered what the ‘Politique de la Litterature’ would be like, seen from a popular novel that sets family and politics as its main subject in 19th century, when once-common consciousness of family of gentry class was on its decline and the territory of full-length novels and the readers also started to shrink. To find the answer, I first examined the novel while concentrating upon its political attributes ― mainly consciousness of family and history ―, whereupon the consciousness of family or that of history discovered in the novel was as much or somewhat less than those discovered in full-length Korean novels read earlier. Instead it is identified that Limwhajungyoen uses its characters who roam ― or play their part ― out of their homes to expand the stage of the story, thus draw various events in the society as well as those in the families, satirize them, and shows its political nature that creates a crack in the firmly androcentric and upper-class-centered society. And through the wandering characters who don’t make their way home in the end, this novel secures its own significance by showing a narration of escape and expansion ― on the hidden side of its narration which seems to aim at feudal system or existing tradition ― that aims at a world out of home with non-gentry sensibility. This characteristic is also meaningful in that it shows a contrast with a characteristic of new-style novels which includes expansion to outdoors yet ultimately boils down to a narration of return.

This study was conducted to discuss the life of Hoejae(晦齋) Lee Eon-juk(李彦迪, 1491～1553), who laid the foundation of Neo- Confucianism in Joseon in the early 16th Century through the view of the Chulcheo (a government post and seclusion) and the Confucian scholars' view of nature based on the writings of Hoejae. It particularly discussed whether Hoejae's view of the Chulcheo was fair based on the Confucian scholars' view of the Chulcheo or he pursued government post anytime for his own success and honor. King Jungjong reinstated Hoejae, who was back in his hometown due to his grandfather's funeral, two years after Gimyosahwa(1519) where the Sarim party of scholars, including Cho Kwang-jo, was sacrificed. His 「Iyunochwitangnon」 describes how he felt when he accepted the posts. He stated he accepted the posts to work as Lee Yoon and make the king as great as Yao-Shun for the people to flourish in peace and prosperity as the time of Yao-Shun. During Elsa-Sahwa, he participated in Chungsoondang where Queen Munjeong and Soyoon punished the Sarim party and tried the officers as Panuigeumbusa (head judge) to be recorded as Jeongnanwisagongsin and appointed to Yeoseonggun. This behavior of his was not just considering the Confucian view of the Chulcheo. Later, Hoejae refused the titles of Jeongnanwisagongsin and Yeoseonggun as he realized it was wrong. The view of nature reflected in Hoejae's poetry was expressed as his sadness for not being able to care for his parents, how much he missed his family, and his love for his brother. He submitted the resignation letter several times to take care of his mother and volunteered to work at a local office near his hometown. He also wrote about 30 poems about his younger brother. Not only that, his loyalty to the king and concerns for the kingdom also reflected the Confucian scholars' view of nature. However, he wrote almost no poem on the hardships of the commoners. This would be the limitation of poetry of Confucian scholars in the 16th Century. As Zixia said in the Chapter of Great Virtue, Book of JaJang(「子張」), “Small virtue may enter if the great virtue does not deviate from its boundary,” Hoejae has several reasons to be acknowledged from a positive view considering the philosophy trends of his time and that Toegye said in Haengjang that "The Chulcheo is right for the integrity defended with life for the great cause,"

In the late Joseon period, pupils from non-yangban family also went to either seodang or saejae to learn classical Chinese and study basic Confucian scriptures. Because it was impossible for them to become national administrators by passing the national civil service examination, non-yangban pupils studied in preparation for working as low-ranking officials at local government offices or older students in local educational institution without problems in the future. Thus, they devoted themselves to learn practical texts such as petitions rather than the scriptures of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. It was manuscript of ‘Collections of Practical Texts’ that those pupils read as learning materials. Published in various forms to meet readers’ social status and/or their need, the collections consisted of all sorts of documents, forms of letters, and novels in general according to some existing Collections. Pupils learned and practiced forms of various documents, letters, and novels through their teacher at seodang. Petitions included in the Collections are useful sources to research the society of the time, for they reflect diverse aspects of life and social conflicts of the time. At the same time, the petitions are considered to be significant materials through which what non-yangban pupils studied would be examined in detail.

This paper studies aspect and meanings of companionship between Sŏng, U-chŭng and scholars in Qing dynasty during diplomatic mission in the year of Muin(1818). He made an exchange with scholars in Qing dynasty about poems and letters, and included them in Myŏngsanjip. It is a valuable material which is the only record of diplomatic mission in the year of Muin. It is a very important document that verifies aspect of diplomatic mission in the year of Muin and fills a gap in Yŏnhaengnok studies from 1817 to 1821. Sŏng, U-chŭng thinks companionship is the most important thing during diplomatic mission. He met Do Ju(陶澍) and Jin, Yong-gwang(陳用光) who were well-known in Qing dynasty, and they built human networks. They exchanged poems which were related to compliments of personality and poetic talent, and expressed wishfulness and longing for saying goodbye. They are not always ceremonial, they are much more sincere and truthful. So, it is enough to say that their companionship is tŭkŭich'ŏ(得意處) and sinkyo(神交).