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A Study for Character of Themes in Heejoilsa

박종선 1

1강원대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

The Joseon Dynasty had a class system mainly with Yangban. Most of old archives involve the upper class’s culture and documents. However, Yangban was on the social and economic decline, whereas Chungin grew richer than the former class and began to make the Middle Class Literature in the late of Joseon Dynasty. Their first fruit was Haedongyuju published by Hong Se-Tae in 1712. And selections of poems such as Sodaepungyo(1737), Pungyosokseon(1797), and Pungyosamseon(1857) were published. Although Chungin was lower than Yangban, they published various biographies to show their excellent literary talent and presence. Among them, Hosanegi by Cho Hee-Ryong was the first collection in 1844. The book contains 39 biographies about 42 people. Ihyanggueonmunnok by Yoo Jae-Keon(1862) was followed. Heejoilsa(1866) was also published around the same time. The book was published by Lee Kyoung-Min who was a civilian official in the late of Joseon Dynasty. It is based on biographies and anecdotes about people who had various talents, while they were unmentioned in any official history and not well known in the world. It comprises of 2 volumes with 85 biographies. Even if Heejoilsa contains less than Ihyanggueonmunnok and there’s a huge overlap between the two books, the former includes new people such as Jung Yuk-Dong, Park Eui-Jung, Kim Woo-Seok, Lee Hyung-Ik, Ahn Yong-Bok, Lee Choi-Jun, Kim Hong-Won, and Kim Ga-Mo. Those new people were commonly active in international issues; they protected our country against foreign invasions. There was a certain correlation between them and the year(1866), when Heejoilsa was published. For these reasons, Joseon Dynasty strengthened a closed-door policy and the situation led the author to add biographies of Chungins who were involved in outside activities and protected our country against foreign invasion in Heejoilsa. Therefore, there was quite a little correlation between them. The involved people can be classified into filial duty and fraternity(10), loyalty(13), literature(30), paintings and writings(9), medical practice(3), skill(2), string instrument(1), fortune-teller(1), others(6), and women(10). The author didn’t mention people who had already a respect or won official commendation, but unrevealed people in order to conserve their excellence. The purpose of this study is to make a complete translation of Heejoilsa, examine the individuals’ excellence and true themselves, consider the times, and then describe their social activities beyond their limit of position within the rigid class system.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.