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The Method and Meaning of Recovering Family Honor in Yangmunchunguirok

  • Journal of Korean Literature
  • 2015, (31), pp.203-228
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature
  • Published : May 31, 2015

Inseon YOO 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Yangmunchunguirok is a unique and problematic work that deals with a traitor’s family. Different from similar works that begin by describing the heroic contributions of the main character’s ancestors and exceptional talents of the hero, Yangmunchunguirok starts from the scene where the protagonist, Yang Ingwang, recognizes the treason of his father. The narrative proceeds with the struggles of Yang Ingwang to redeem the mistake of his father and regain the family's honor. Yang Ingwang achieves a glorious exploit with his descendants and thus attempts to redeem his father’s treason. However, this only serves to highlight the past incident, causing others to condemn Yang Ingwang and his family. Finally, nearing his death, Yang Ingwang attempts to settle the precedent affair and recover the family's honor by removing his father’s crime along with his and his descendants’ achievements. This way of recuperation is a liquidation of the family’s past, but also can be understood on some level as a healing of Yang Ingwang’s pain that came from his suffering as the son of a criminal. Also it removed all positive and negative aspects of the family’s history, which created a foundation for his descendants to establish a new standing with the nation. Yangmunchunguirok can also be read for its social context of the later part of the Joseon dynasty, the period when this piece was widely circulated. Also this work shows a different side of the classical novels of the later part of the Joseon dynasty in terms of material, subject, and narrative method.

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