This paper attempts to examine the adaptation intentions of the author and the variations of the adaptation process through an analysis of the different version of the Epitaph for Park Su-su at the Hongmungwan Jeongja. In particular, the study dealt with how the life of the deceased was emphasized in the adaptation.
First of all, this study analyzed the variations of the Epitaph for Park Su-su at the Hongmungwan Jeongja published in Byeongsaejib, Yeonamchogo(八), Gyeomheonmanpil(乾), Eumhwagyejib(乾), Yusanggogsujeongjib(乾), Hapoongjukrohdanggi(坤), Baekcheokohdonggakjib(坤), Yeon-sang-gak-jip(墓銘), the Gyeseo version of Yeonamjib, and the Park Yeong-chul version of Yeonamjib. The study made comparisons by distinguishing ‘Passive Adaptation (Ⅰ)’ and ‘Active Adaptation (Ⅱ)’ based on the parts that clearly distinguish character entries between variations. As a result, the ‘Passive Adaptation (Ⅰ)’ type had fewer character entries, excluding Chinese character variants, while there were various forms of Bijeom(批點). The ‘Active Adaptation (Ⅱ)’ type, in comparison with the original, had many subsequently added sentences and deleted characters. In particular, the sentences ‘ⓐ He asked me for an epitaph (請銘于余)’ and ‘ⓑHe was a Bannam Park(潘南人也)’ in ‘Passive Adaptation(Ⅰ)’ are parts that clearly differ.
The difference between variations enabled the distinction of three types according to the adaptation intention of Park Ji-won. First, sentences were added to explain the ‘strict family tradition and the negative prejudice of the people in the world’. This was the reason that the deceased had no choice but to carefully hide his true heart. Second, there were sentence modifications that highlighted a ‘suppressed literary temperament’. Anecdotes about how the deceased failed to demonstrate his clear, clean heart and brilliant literary talents, and how he suffered alone were added. Third, paragraphs were rearranged to show his ‘foreknowledge of his tragic fate’. Right after the anecdote of having his fortune read by a physiognomic before his death, the grief due to his early death was added by attaching the sentence that the ‘physiognomy reading hit the mark’. This reveals in the forefront his ‘ultimate loneliness’ of being unable to share his heart with no one all his life and his ‘pain of being unable to deny his fate’. To achieve this, Park Ji-won changed the conclusive descriptive method into a listing of anecdotes and a description of situations, increasing the literary value by adopting dialogue.