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This study examines Kansong Cho Imdo’s (1585–1664) companionship literature. Kansong has been evaluated as a scholar who attempted to combine the Toegye and Nammung Schools during his lifetime, adopting the advantages of each school. This research applies the concept of companionship literature, which comprises a major portion of Kansong’s works, to highlight its characteristics and meanings. This research limited its scope to literature related to companionship and boating. The sources related to Kansong’s boating record his plays with companions on boat and is regarded as important material that shows his attitude toward companions. Kansong tried to overcome his prejudiced and imprudent character by meeting valuable friends. Based on trustworthiness in human relationships, he placed greater importance on spiritual friendship and the Seon-bi (선비) Spirit than on their relative age or the physical distance between them. Kansong’s literature can be characterized into three aspects. The first is his respect for the holy man and perception of his era. The second is his Pungryu (풍류) spirit and targeting for spiritualizers. The third is his intimate friendships and strong team spirit. These aspects show the ways of communication and shared awareness among literary writers of the 17th century. They did not participate in political issues as public officials; however, they continuously responded to the ongoing issues as intellectuals through ties of friendship and striving for unity. In addition, Kansong’s companionship literature realized the Seon-bi spirit. He described the will to brighten the world according to the way of the holy man, maintaining an interest in the real world but remaining spiritual by nature.

This thesis examines the poems of Yun Je-gyu (尹濟奎, 1810–1879), who argued that poetry plays a role in describing the landscape of its time. His poems thus deal with specific aspects of life, such as changing landscapes, small scenes of everyday life, and folk customs. In these poems, he sometimes attached a wealth of footnotes to provide relevant information to the reader. Moreover , love between a man and a woman is an important theme of his poetry, set in a concrete space and taking a realistic form. He sometimes does not follow traditional versification in describing concrete and realistic landscapes. It is noteworthy that the utilization of ordinary language, self-appreciation, and response poetry show a new aspect of late Chosun Dynasty poetry. His also exhibit trivial and popular features. While these characteristics are limitations of Yun Je-gyu’s poetry, they can be understood as reflecting an aspect of 19th century poetry in which the traditional centripetal force no longer works.

Known to have been written by 宕翁 (Tangong) in the late 19th century, Okseonmong has an encyclopedic character and actively uses Chinese literature throughout its composition, as this study demonstrates. The contents are adjusted according to the growth of the protagonist, and thereafter, content from Chinese literature plays a particular role in this work. It can be seen that the author maintained a creative stance of incorporating culture into the narrative. The use of the content from Chinese literature takes the form of listing knowledge, information, discussion materials, and poetry. While this conclusion may be said to apply to all classical novels that impart knowledge and information, Okseonmong shows a unique pattern that is a focus of this paper. The use of literature in Okseonmong is relevant to the wide-ranging reading culture in the late Joseon Dynasty and the creative practice of classical novels of imparting knowledge and information. However, the author of Okseonmong goes beyond that, using the narrative to highlight the contents of the literature he knew and unfold his knowledge of literature without hesitation rather than pursuing a narrative interest.

This study aims to understand aspects of the modern publication of Korean full-length classical novels and the methods used in their popularization To effectively popularize the classics, it is necessary to understand the overall publishing ecosystem through their data on publications in the present age and to construct a new modern publication of Korean full-length classical novels in the context of the history of distribution. Thus, this study examined the form and trend of modern publications, including the data on Korean full-length classical novels that have been photo-printed, proofread/annotated, and translated into modern Korean. The modern publication of Korean full-length classical novels began with Imhwajeongyeon, published by Eulyoo Publishing Co. in 1962, gradually increased with the photo printing of classical novels in the 1970s, and proceeded in earnest in the 2000s after a downturn in the 1990s. Modern translations increased explosively in 2010 (seven kinds), after which only one or two works have been translated each year. However almost 60% have not yet been translated into modern Korean. It is shown that modern translations would be needed according to the readers’ patterns of use the translated works. To attain a mass readership of full-length novels among the public beyond the narrow confines of particular groups, it is necessary to identify significant texts to be translated in the context of the history of distribution, set directions for modern publication taking into consideration the publishing ecosystem, follow the appropriate patterns and prepare strategies for popularization. Thus, this study first translated Hwassichunghyorok, Yuhyogongsseonhaengrok, and Myeong󰠀jugibong which have long had wide popularity, holding readers’ attention for a long time- consider literary value and the state of their bibliographical research, and proposed changes in the methods of publication and distribution considering the medium and platform. This study discusses the strategy of securing an active readership by improving the accessibility of works and by including a more diverse participants in translation with abridged versions, audiobooks, and rewriting versions. For popularization, since the conversion of media and platform is insufficient, it would be necessary to make efforts to spread an awareness of Korean classical novels in the academic community, spread an enjoyment of these works in the literary environment by branding of Korean classical novels and the curation service.

The purpose of this study is to examine Banggwanjoo’s transvestism in Banghanlim-jeon as “man-making” by external influences, and to investigate the gender issues implied by her narrative. In the beginning, Banggwanjoo observed that she expressed her male gender identity in response to her parents’ subtle desire for her to be a man. After losing her parents, her gender identity became fossilized, leading to her immersion in her ideal life as a man. The reason Banggwanjoo wore men’s clothes and devoted herself to the revival of the family, was to create a perfect man’s narrative. At first glance, her life appeared successful; however, her inner self was filled with tension, anxiety, and pain. She was unable to become a perfect man or woman because of her dual identity: her gender identity as a male, and her natural female body, which she did not choose. Such a figuration of Banggwanjoo is not only meaningful in her own space-time, but embodies a tragedy of human life, that occur at any time and place where oppressive gender norms are excessively applied.

This study aims to present the missionary activities of Minnette E. Norton and her translation, The Children’s Wonder Book. There have been few, if any, studies of this collection of fables, while another of her translations, The Emperor’s New Clothes and Other Stories, is recognized as one of the key collections of fairy tales in the formative years of children’s literature in Korea. Moreover, her missionary work in Korea is little known as well. Above all, the findings show that she arrived in Korea in the early 20th century, and joined the Woman’s Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, where she spent almost 20 years engaging in teaching and instructing children, young girls, and women in places such as Haiju and Seoul, while also serving on a medical and a publishing committee. In her later years of missionary work between 1923 and 1925, she translated and published three literary works: The Children’s Wonder Book, The Emperor’s New Clothes and Other Stories, and The Lame Prince. The Children’s Wonder Book is a translated collection of famous old British and American fables, including several of Aesop’s Fables. The simplicity of the Korean expressions used in the translation suggests that the book targeted relatively young children. Aesop’s Fables were already featured in Korean school textbooks from as early as the late 19th century, and at the time of Norton’s translation in the early 20th century, the fables were used as teaching material to convey messages of enlightenment and self-development. As a member of a Christian missionary committee, Norton sought to translate these stories to concisely embody the values that the missionary associations hoped to instill in Korean students.

This study aims to analyze the aspect of psychological warfare that develops between characters in the Korean novel Wanwolhoemaengyeon and to derive its meaning. To this end, it specified its meaning by redefining the concept of psychological warfare and comparing with a war of nerves, as it suggested that the term psychological warfare, which has always been used in actual military strategy, be borrowed from full-scale literary studies. Moreover, to present a specific method of analysis by understanding the difference between psychological warfare and tactics, this study categorizes the elements that constitute psychological warfare in literary works into several items, including the characterization of characters and the personality of targets. Accordingly, as a result of analyzing the psychological warfare in the work, the developments of layered psychological warfare between characters were found in Wanwolhoemaengyeon ― in other words, “Jeong In-jung’s psychological warfare targeting Jeong Yeom” and “Yeo Won-hong’s psychological warfare targeting Jeong Seong-yeom”. These two psychological warfares were developed in the form of including Yeo Won-hong’s psychological warfare as a sub-tactic within Jeong In-jung’s psychological warfare. Through the way the two fathers treat their daughters which was revealed in the aspect of psychological warfare, it could find that the author of Wanwolhoemaengyeon constantly opposes the ideology of the time through the surrounding people and the surrounding narratives and shows narrative developments creating a crack in it, while helping to realize the importance of human nature. This study is meaningful in that it reveals the main driver of the work’s attraction by examining the narrative and the composition strategies of the Korean novel from the perspective of a character’s psychology.

This study examines how the storytelling method of folk tales is related to human psychology to explore the comfort and healing that humans have sought through the literary act of imagining the transcendent existence of “ghosts.” In particular, in folktales including the “ghost anger” motif, psychological problems in reality can be found along with human literary imagination. This is represented in “The Curse of the Ghost,” which unfolds as a narrative in which a human who violates God’s order faces the wrath of a ghost and is ultimately frustrated by a tragic fate due to the curse. The motif of this story reflects the projection defense mechanism. The story resembles the cognitive distortion of the desire to avoid fear and compulsion. Considering the limitations of unrealistic projections and the dangers that a distorted projection can cause, narratives that avoid a distorted projection also convey an important meaning. Stories featuring characters who do not serve ghosts depict the confrontation between an angry god and a human who enforces his will. Finally, the demon acknowledges the limits of his power and shows the end of backing away. These works go to a different path in the process whereby human fear is projected as the wrath of a ghost, leading to a narrative in which one can face the identity of the ghost, the projectile of fear. Assuming that the human cognitive form and folktales are similar, one of the two types is a narrative that fails to properly assess the situation because of the distortion of the projection. The other narrative overcomes the distortion of projection and succeeds in confronting the situation. These two types represent the pessimistic and reflective thinking of humans, respectively, in the face of fear.

With the advent of post-human discourse, a review of human beings from a new perspective rather than the conventional point of view has been activated in all fields of study, including the humanities. The new discourse implies and drives not only indications and interpretations of phenomena but also changes in the existing view of human beings or the world. Therefore, the search for a new perspective or approach based on a new discourse remains a valid problem in research on classical literature. In this paper, I made a new attempt to study the characters of the “Vengeful Ghosts” (冤鬼) that often appear in classical narratives. Although the vengeful ghost is an inhuman being, it reveals the value and character of human existence. The vengeful-ghost narrative is structured in such a way that a woman harbors resentment, and a ghost (transformed from a woman) resolves the resentment. In the first half of the narrative, the woman does not become a subject of doing but remains a subject of being, and then becomes a vengeful ghost and a subject of doing, thereby completing the task of the narrative. In the world of narrative, the path of the subject as a semiotic existence leads from the “virtual” mode to the “actual” mode and then to the “real” mode. In the process of a vengeful ghost narrative, as the character changes from a female human to a vengeful ghost, we can identify a new stage, the “potential” mode. The vengeful ghost has now become a subject who realizes new possibilities and carries out tasks, breaking out of the limited scope of action in the given world order. This change in the subject is based on the expression of anger against the real world, which denies basic desires, such as the realization of human dignity and love, that should be respected in human beings. As the subject of passion, the vengeful ghost shows what is lacking in the real world and what needs to be supplemented. Through this perspective, a new reading of the vengeful ghost is a request to reflect on the human being who represents the world and gives it its order.

This study aims to discuss the dynamic cultural phenomena of monster narratives in Samdugumibon that appear in Korean shamanism. This study posits that Samdugumibon differs greatly from monster narratives, such as the story of eradicating underground national enemies. The difference is not in terms of sacredness or heroism, but in how the work fundamentally constructs the narrative about monsters and reproduces the shape of monsters. In addition, it is premised that the difference in the narrativization of the monster Samdugumi stems from external forces and dynamics that had no choice but to tolerate such a narrative rather than an internal and technical problem. Samdugumibon is different from master plots such as the Tales of Defeating Monsters in Underworld Nation, in that the narrative of the monster in Samdugumibon exists excessively and independently, and the shape of the monster is strange and asymmetric. In Samdugumibon, the conflict between the outside/inside and anxiety/comfort does not result in a perfect victory of “inside” and “comfort.” Unlike general master plots, the relationship between the inside and the outside in Samdugumibon remains a process of mutual influence that internalizes the outside and externalizes the inside. Finally, this paper asks why the outside of this text is still represented and narrated as having strong power after being eradicated and infers that it is related to Jeju Island’s straight and destructive view of death.