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Gap between Norm and DesireSexuality in the Novel in Joseon Period

  • The Research of the Korean Classic
  • 2007, 0(15), pp.241-272
  • Publisher : The Research Of The Korean Classic
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature > Korean Literature > Korean classic prose

서지영 1

1한국학중앙연구원

Candidate

ABSTRACT

Gap between Norm and Desire —Sexuality in the Novel in Joseon Period Suh, Ji-Young Pursuit for the eros in human life is one of universal desires that the men have. In the Eastern culture, there is the icon of ideal couple called “a meeting of pungnyujeja[a man of talent and elegance] and yojosuknyo[a chaste lady with refined manners]”. However, the way the ideal love is realized in real life is differentiated in the historical context, because the idealogical and social mechanism which are the constituents of the society get involved in the way the eros is expressed. In Joseon period, it has been said that the sexuality which is the source of human desire was suppressed by the asceticism of confucian ideology. Nevertheless, we can find the traces of desires slipping from the grip of confucian norms in the fictional discourses like novel. This paper tries to illustrate the relation between sexual love and marriage in pre-modern period by analyzing the romance narratives produced in Joseon period from the early part, through the middle part, to the later part, finally questing for the historical meaning of the way the erotic desire was expressed each period.

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