본문 바로가기
  • Home

Park Hwaseong’s Novel, Baekhwa

ROH YEON SOOK 1

1포항공과대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Park Hwaseong’s novel Baekhwa, which was serialized in the newspaperDonga Ilbo, is generally not regarded as a representative historicalnovel of the Japanese Colonial Period. As such, a study on the newspaperseries text of Baekhwa has not been carried out even though it is completein form. Therefore, the current paper aims to deal with the material ofthe ‘series itself.’The focus of this paper is the representation of the ‘sentimental classnature’ in Baekhwa. First of all, Park made an ideal world in order to realizerevenge against the evildoer(勸善懲惡). Secondly, each character’semotional thinking was expressed by poetry and music(詩歌). Loyalty wasimplied by poetry and music, which operated to connect Wangsaeng andBaekhwa as important clues. They were reborn as the artist by poetry andmusic without losing their original nobility, and reborn as true humanbeings. Finally, the characters were linked by a debt of gratitude(恩義) toone another. They swore brotherhood and married each other in the nameof comrades(志氣相合). Moral justice(義), in particular, is this novel’s main theme and is connected with the plot of the revenge. Although this series is a historical novel, it focused on fictional charactersrather than actual characters. They are unrecorded characters, such asthe Subaltern. Park succeeded in delivering, through them, the messagethat the realization of justice makes the world better.

Citation status

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