KOREAN LITERATURE

the body of works written by Koreans, at first in classical Chinese, later in various transcription systems using Chinese characters, and finally in Hangul (Korean: han'gul; or Hankul in the Yale romanization), the national alphabet. Although Korea has had its own language for several thousand years, it has had a writing system only since the mid-15th century, when Hangul was invented. As a result, early literary activity was in Chinese characters. Korean scholars were writing poetry in the traditional manner of classical Chinese at least by the 4th century AD. A national academy was established shortly after the founding of the Unified Silla dynasty (668935); and, from the institution of civil-service examinations in the mid-10th century until their abolition in 1894, every educated Korean had read the Confucian Classics and Chinese histories and literature. The Korean upper classes were therefore bilingual in a special sense: they spoke Korean but wrote in Chinese. By the 7th century a system, called idu, had been devised that allowed Koreans to make rough transliterations of Chinese texts. Eventually, certain Chinese characters were used for their phonetic value to represent Korean particles of speech and inflectional endings. A more extended system of transcription, called hyangch'al, followed shortly thereafter, in which entire sentences in Korean could be written in Chinese. In another system, kugyol, abridged versions of Chinese characters were used to denote grammatical elements and were inserted into texts during transcription. Extant literary works indicate, however, that before the 20th century much of Korean literature was written in Chinese rather than in Korean, even after the invention of Hangul. In general, then, literature written in Korea falls into three categories: works written in the early transcription systems, those written in Hangul, and those written in classical Chinese. the body of works written by Koreans, at first in classical Chinese, later in various transcription systems using Chinese characters, and finally in Hangul (Korean: han'gul), the national alphabet promulgated in the mid-15th century. Koreans had their own language for several thousand years but did not invent a system of writing until comparatively late. Poetry was probably the earliest Korean literary activity before 57 BC, when the ancient songs were concerned with farming activities and religious beliefs and expressed the people's closeness to the natural world. Later literary expressions indicate the changing Korean culture as mainland Chinese influences helped produce a shift from primitive to more sophisticated creative forms. Collective singing and dancing gave way to the personal and individual expression of emotions. The heroes in the literature, formerly tribal ones, now became individual personalities. The three Korean kingdoms of this period were Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla (57 BCAD 668). After the middle of the 7th century, Silla absorbed the other two kingdoms, and the resulting stable political system enabled students to visit China, which brought cultural richness to Korea. The most highly developed form of literature became the short lyric poems known as hyangga. Usually having a 10-line form, hyangga were written in a delicate and mystical style, with Buddhist philosophy influencing the subject matter, which emphasized a future life. The earliest Korean prose works included narrative myths about the sun and the moon and the lives of historic kings, legends of natural occurrences, and folk stories about heroes, prophecies, dreams, and animals. The oral literature is made up of all works orally passed on through generationsi.e., ballads, legends, mask plays, puppet-show texts, and p'ansori (story singing) texts. After the Unified Silla period ended in 935, the literature of Koryo (9351392) introduced a new poetry style called pyolgok, or changga (special song). These were intended for large stage performances on festive occasions involving worship of the local gods and of Buddha. Epic literaturebased on myths, legends, and the history of Buddhismalso blossomed. The longest-lasting and most representative Korean form of poetry is the sijo, a three-line stanza that originated in the 12th century and has continued to be used. Sijo most often concerns itself with Confucian ethical values but also deals with nature and love. Coexisting with sijo in the early stages was the kasa, a form of long poem that was eventually used for moral instruction, travel journals, or personal stories of woe. During the early Choson (Yi) period (13921598), the promulgation of the Korean alphabet in the 1440s enabled writers to cast off their cultural dependence on the Chinese language. The sijo form of poetry rose to its peak at this time. Readers in Korea loved the sijo poetic form because it was at the same time both richly expressive and capable of great lyrical intensity. Like many other traditional Korean literary genres, sijo and kasa are performed to a particular type of musical accompaniment and are considered to be vital musical genres as well. After the unsuccessful Japanese invasion of Korea (159297), the emphasis of literature shifted to prose. The later Choson period (15981894) found practical idealism replacing Confucianism. Narrative prose (sosol) was embraced by the common people as a result of their disinterest in the old nobility and the old poetry. The most popular works, anonymous and about ordinary people, were written in a simple, natural style. The sinsosol (new novel) spanned the period until the modern novel appeared in 1910; its elements were virtue triumphant over vice, a plot based on coincidences, and an entirely prose text (previous works had been partly in verse). Modern Korean literature began to come of age in the 1920s with the young writers of the independence movement of 1919, who were angry at the Japanese massacre and internment of Koreans. Maturing in the 1930s, the literature embraced techniques used by contemporary Western writers, such as the stream-of-consciousness narrative technique. During this time the potential of the Korean language for poetry was particularly evident in Chong Chiyang's verse and in the poetic language of the stories by Yi Hyo-sok. Korean literature, suppressed by the Japanese during World War II, made a fresh start in 1945 based on the advances of the 1930s, only to be interrupted again by the Korean War (195053). Literature following the war was heavily influenced by the division of the country. Additional reading Poetry Peter H. Lee (comp. and ed.), Anthology of Korean Literature from Early Times to the Nineteenth Century (1981), collects representative poetic and prose works written in Chinese and Korean and supplies commentary and criticism; his Lives of Eminent Korean Monks (1969) is an annotated translation of Kakhun, Haedong kosung chon (1215), with an introduction. Richard Rutt (ed. and trans.), The Bamboo Grove (1971), introduces sijo arranged by themes. Won Ko (trans. and comp.), Contemporary Korean Poetry (1970), is another collection. Peter H. Lee (ed.), The Silence of Love: Twentieth-Century Korean Poetry (1980), contains translations of 16 major modern poets. David R. McCann (trans.), The Middle Hour: Selected Poems of Kim Chi Ha (1980), contains 40 poems. Another selection of poems, prose pieces, and a play by the same author is presented in Chong Sun Kim and Shelly Killen (eds.), The Gold Crowned Jesus and Other Writings (1978). Prose Richard Rutt and Chong-Un Kim (trans.), Virtuous Women (1974, reprinted 1979), contains translations of Dream of Nine Clouds, Tale of Queen Inhyon, and The Song of a Faithful Wife, Ch'un Hyang. In-Sop Chong (ed. and trans.), Folk Tales from Korea (1952, reprinted 1969), is a representative selection. Duk-Soon Chang et al. (eds.), The Folk Treasury of Korea: Sources in Myth, Legends, and Folktale, trans. by Tae-Sung Kim (1970), is a collection of oral literature. Soun Kim, The Story Bag (1955), collects 30 folktales. For modern prose see Kevin O'Rourke (comp.), Ten Korean Short Stories (1973, reissued 1981); Peter H. Lee (ed.), Flowers of Fire: Twentieth-Century Korean Stories (1974, rev. ed. 1986); Chong-Wha Chung (ed.), Modern Korean Short Stories (1980); Chong-Un Kim (ed.), Postwar Korean Short Stories, 2nd ed. (1983); and Ji-Moon Suh (trans.), The Rainy Spell and Other Korean Stories (1983). Literary criticism Peter H. Lee, Korean Literature: Topics and Themes (1965), is an introduction to Korean literature, and his Songs of Flying Dragons: A Critical Reading (1974) is an annotated translation of Yongbi och'on ka (144547). W.E. Skillend, Kodae Sosol: A Survey of Korean Traditional Style Popular Novels (1969), is a catalog of Korean fiction. Byong-Wuk Chong Peter H. Lee History The earliest literature: before 57 BC From the earliest times, poetry and music have played an important part in the daily life of the Korean people. This love for song and dance impressed the ancient Chinese, whose observations are found in their early records. Ancient Korean songs, closely allied to the religious life of the people, were performed at such rites as the worship of heaven in the north and the sowing and harvest festivals in the south. These songs were transmitted orally and were thought to have magical properties. Three songs are handed down in Chinese translation: Kuji ka (or Yong singun ka; Song for Welcoming the Gods, in the Samguk yusa), Hwangjo ka (17 BC; Song of Orioles, in the Samguk sagi), and Kong mudoha ka (or Konghuin; A Medley for the Harp, in the Haedong yoksa). The Kuji ka is related to the myth of the founding of the Karak state, but it appears to have been a prayer sung at shamanist rituals. Some have interpreted it as being a song of seduction sung by women. The Hwangjo ka, attributed to King Yuri, seems to be a fragment of a love song. The hero of Kong mudoha ka is thought to have been a shaman who drowned himself while in a trance. Perhaps the poem indicates the loss of the shaman's efficacy and authority when ancient Korea was transformed into a structured state. The story also includes other characters such as the sailor, his wife, and her friend. Another song, the Tosol ka (AD 28), is mentioned in the Samguk sagi as the beginning of secular poetry, but the poem itself has not survived. Literature of the Three Kingdoms: 57 BCAD 668 In contrast to the literature of the earliest ages, which is characterized by collective artistic activity, that of later ages shows the effects of political, economic, and cultural changes as the peninsula increased in wealth and widened its contacts with other areas. The introduction of Buddhism and Chinese characters to the Three Kingdoms enriched their literature and changed their worldview greatly. In consequence, their artistic activity advanced far beyond collective singing and dancing to the direct expression of individual feelings. The heroes of this literature were human beings with individual personalities in contrast to the more idealized tribal heroes of earlier times. The three kingdoms of this period were Koguryo, in the north; Paekche, in the southwest; and Silla, in the southeast. The writers of Koguryo, the geographical location of which provided close contact with the Chinese mainland, seem to have retained something of the original pioneer spirit from the times when Koreans came from the northern regions and settled on the peninsula; their poems tended to be heroic tales in epic form. The foundation myth of Koguryo concerns the migration of King Tongmyong and his people into the region. The stories of Ondal, King Mich'on, Prince Hodong, the heir apparent Yuri, and others that had their origin in Koguryo are still used today as the bases for dramas and motion pictures. In contrast to that of Koguryo, the literature of Paekche and Silla tended to be lyrical, perhaps because of the milder climate and easier life in the south. Although little literature from Paekche has survived, the legends and songs contained in the Samguk sagi give a hint of its original extent and richness. For example, Chongupsa (Song of Chongup)in which the wife of an itinerant merchant asks the Moon to protect her husbandwas passed down from Paekche through the Koryo and Yi dynasties and is still appreciated in the 20th century. Silla led the other two kingdoms both politically (as proved by its subsequent unification of Korea) and artistically, in spite of the fact that it was farthest removed from contact with Chinese culture. The geographical and cultural distance from China, however, seems to have been an advantage, since the culture of Silla was able to create a true synthesis of native and foreign elements.