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A Study of Im Yunjidang’s Preface to Parting “Baesongjoongshinamguiseo”

Kang, Soon-Ae 1

1한성대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper studies Im Yunjidang’s newly-discovered preface to parting “Baesongjoongshinamguiseo” by looking over the life and academic works of Im Yunjidang and examining the bibliography and content of “Baesongjoongshinamguiseo” Im Yunjidang(任允摯堂, 1721-1793) was a female Neo-Confucian scholar in Yeongjo’s and Jeongjo’s reign of Joseon, whose academic origins lay in the late Joseon Yulgok faction’s branch of semiotics of cosmo-ontology, and whose teacher was her older brother Nokmun Im Seongju. The only remaining work by Im Yunjidang is a book in two volumes called the Yunjidangyugo(允摯堂遺稿) which means “Posthumous Works of Yunjidang.” “Baesongjoongshinamguiseo” is a preface to parting written for her second older brother Im Seongju, a writing not included in Yunjidangyugo which enables modern-day scholars to study her new literary form. The preface to parting describes the sadness of parting when her older brother Im Seongju left Sanho in Wonju, the home to which he relocated from Nokmun, Gongju from the sixth to tenth year of King Jeongjo’s reign (1782-1786). The writing is thought to have been composed in the tenth year of Jeongjo’s reign when her brother left, but seeing from the eight missing characters in the text, it is unknown whether it was delivered to Im Seongju. Im Yunjidang wrote it in her own hand while incorporating An Jin-kyeong, Jeo Suryang and Woo Sae-nam’s penmanship, producing clear and elegant writing. The writing can be divided into 7 paragraphs according to the content development. The framework of Im Yunjidang’s record is built on how Im Seongju relocated from Nokmun, Gongju to live in Sanho, Wonju from the sixth to tenth year of Jeongjo’s reign. It describes the joy of life that comes from loving and admiring him as her academic teacher and shows well the pain of parting, adding three wishes in the conclusion to specify her longings. This study will be used in the basic future studies of private records as well as in those of bibliography, record management, history and Korean language.

Citation status

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