The study aims to examine aspects of Catholic early history in modern Korean novels. From the introduction of Catholicism to the persecution of God in 1801, the main theme of the book was divided into three main types to analyze representative works.
First, I looked at the early Catholic company through the stories of people who started from 'Western learning' and were branded 'deceiving learning'. There are many important figures in the history of the church among Jeong Yakyong's brothers and surrounding figures, such as Hwang Inkyung's “Mokminsimseo”, Han Seungwon's “Dasan.” and Kim Hoon's “Heuksan”. It also compared Choi Bosik's “Enchantment” which dealt with Lee Byuk, the actual leader of early Catholicism.
Second, the age of martyrdom means the novels about martyrs who played a major role in the process of Catholicism and Catholicism being established as a religion of Catholicism, imported from Catholic history. While analyzing Park Dowon's “The Land of Martyrs” we looked at various classes, including yangban, middle class, and commoners, and especially women, who played the role of early teachers.
Third, rather than judging church history from a dichotomous perspective of martyr and apostate, he noted the novel of excavating and reinterpreting hidden figures in church history. Jang Jungok's “Quiet sound of a bell” shows how she remembers Hwang Sa-young, a troubled figure, through the secret of Hwang Sayoung’s white paper who recorded the history of martyrdom without fear of death, and the process of his son Hwang Kyunghan, who was abandoned in Chujado Island, searching for his father. Kim Soyoon's novel “Nanju” remembered Hwang Sayoung's wife, Jeong Nanju, who was exiled to Jeju Island. Jeong Nanju shows how a woman, not a man, can live as a main body without losing her faith as a missionary, not a martyr, in the vicinity of Jeju Island, not Hanyang.