What is the outstanding point of Gwangmunjajeon廣文者傳, which is said to have been written by Yeonam燕巖 around the age of 18 and made his name known in one day. Yeonam wrote the original biography of Gwangmun in the early years, and ten years later, he wrote the reminiscence of Gwangmun. The main subject of interest in this paper is the original biography of Gwangmun.
Whether to view the original biography and reminiscence as the same narrative or as separate narratives has been the main point of research on this work. I think the original biography of Gwangmun is a work of complete narrative in itself, and in this article, I focused on the narrative completeness of the original biography and its superiority as a classical work.
The narrative of the original biography is characterized by 'excellent arrangement of narrative segments' and 'close connection between narrative segments.' The narrative of original biography is largely composed of four segments, of which the first, second, and fourth segments are composed of an anecdote before Gwangmun became famous, an anecdote about the moment when Gwangmun became famous, and an anecdote after becoming famous. As we read this work, it is easy to get into by the interest that comes from each episode, but we unknowingly accept the time variance acquired by the sequential composition. This time variance can be said to have a narrative completeness, and the natural connection between the segments and segments of the narrative through auxiliary characters enhances the completeness of this work. The appearance of auxiliary characters from homeowner to drugstore owner and from drugstore owner to Unshim, a gisaeng is not only lively in the work itself, but also contributes to the multifaceted highlighting of the theme of this work, 'faith.' On the other hand, the third segment seems to enumerate bits of information about Gwangmun at first glance, but this also features a characteristic overview of Gwangmun's humanity, such as Gwangmun's ugly appearance and poor speech, and nevertheless being considerate and unconstrained, and has not been revealed as major anecdotes. It can be said that it complements the character of Gwangmun.
The original biography of Gwangmun, the reminiscence, and the author's preface of Banggyeonggakwejeon放璚閣外傳 should be reviewed in consideration of how each was written. At the time of the creation of the original biography, Dalmun達文(another name of Gwangmun) had a high reputation as a person of trust in Joseon, and accordingly, Yeonam portrayed Gwangmun(Dalmun) as a person representing faith with narrative integrity in the original biography. The whole narrative of original biography highlights the value of faith. On the other hand, after the evaluation of Dalmun changed, the meaning of caution against those struggling for fame is contained in the reminiscence, and the author's preface of Banggyeonggakwejeon.