KJCKorea
Journal Central

Because it gave a lot of weight to Taoistic elements compared to other novels in Korean, <Youngirok> has been classified as a Taoism novel, thus has been recognized as a unique work among novels in Korean. Focusing and concentrating on the Taoistic elements that <Youngirok> contains meant much in clarifying the unique characteristic of the work, on the other hand, tended to lead us to be less concerned about discovering the interests in realistic issues that the work shows. Taoistic elements that <Youngirok> contains and uses must have given readers pleasure by raising the level of fun and amusement. But instead of seeing the reason for the wide adoption of Taoistic elements as just for fun or interest in Taoism, I tried to reconsider the characteristics of <Youngirok> on a premise that a new interpretation can be possible if we view it with attention to its relation to the original work. Focusing on the fact that <Youngirok> is a parody work about So-Woon-Sung, a broad-minded and outspoken character from <SoSsiSamDaeRok> and it pays attention to what happens between brother(sister)-in-law thus satirizes and raises objection, I could understand that its adoption of Taoistic elements is a satire on the custom that compares So-Woon-Sung to a Taoist hermit in <SoSsiSamDaeRok>, and it also can be seen as a romantic search for solution problems. And this research found that the thing on which <Youngirok> pays ultimate attention is the subtle conflicts between family members that is very routine and realistic and caused by the differences between their extrinsic circumstances. The Taoistic elements that <Youngirok> actively adopts can be found meaningful as a means or technique which increases the fun of the novel and leads readers to enjoy itself. But in the process of telling the characteristics of this work, the perspective that sees the Taoistic elements which function as a factor for amusement or fun as the representing factor for the whole work needs to be adjusted. Thus, this research acknowledges the value of the factor for fun that <Youngirok> has as a popular novel, and also pays attention to the fact that this work focused on very realistic problems and pointed them out, and tried to show its own solution, so that we can reconsider its characteristics with balanced interpretation.

Taoistic elements, fun, parody, reconsideration of characteristics, Raising the Questions of Realistic Problems, Romantic search for solution problems, consolation