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A Study on Adoption Aspects of Concubine song of ‘I-mulkko’ saseol in Rice-planting Songs

  • Journal of Korean Literature
  • 2021, (44), pp.235-264
  • DOI : 10.52723/JKL.44.235
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature
  • Received : September 30, 2021
  • Accepted : November 10, 2021
  • Published : November 30, 2021

LEE SO YUN 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

As the study carried out an analytic examination on the basic type and derived type of ‘I-mulkko’ saseol, it was found that when the landlord’s wife appears in the saseol, ‘I-mulkko’ saseol starts to get groundwork which leads it to an event. Especially, the point where the landlord’s wife who used to be the subject of sneer and ridicule becomes the subject of sympathy and pity seems to be establishing the groundwork where concubine song could later be joined to ‘I-mulkko’ saseol. Meanwhile, it is highly significant that the singers were all females in the case where the extended saseol of concubine song was combined to the ‘I-mulkko’ saseol. Regarding this point, it can be inferred that it is probably because the women who enjoyed the songs would have easily sympathized the landlord’s wife who feels miserable because of the concubine while men who enjoyed the song couldn’t easily sympathize the landlord who visits the concubine. Therefore, it can be said that the women enjoyers of the song could have actively engaged in turning the I-mulkko saseol into the event and accepting the concubine songs based on it. Another point that deserves attention is the existence of the concubine, who raises the landlord’s wife up to the subject of sympathy and pity from that of ridicule and sneer, and furthermore turns her into the ‘big mother’ who appears in the saseol of concubine songs, a type of folk ballad. Concubines, representing the reality of polygyny in the pre-modern men-centered society, were regarded as the subject of desire by the contemporary men and as the subject of hatred and anger by the contemporary women. Even though the directions of perception were different, as they were the subjects who get attention from both male and female listeners, concubines must have been the subject that can be talked about in the rice-planting field where both men and women worked together. Thus, the contrast in the perception of men and women towards concubines results in the unique phenomenon of taking the subject of concubines into work folk songs, and this phenomenon can be said to have broken the boundary of genre between work folk song and folk ballad. Therefore, we cannot overlook the concubine’s influence on the ‘I-mulkko’ saseol turning into an event and the acceptance of concubine songs based on it.

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