It`s certainly interesting that literary men of the former Yi dynasty wanted to emphasize the morality of literature under the influence of a moral view of literature, but they persued the independency of literary arts and attached great importance to...
It`s certainly interesting that literary men of the former Yi dynasty wanted to emphasize the morality of literature under the influence of a moral view of literature, but they persued the independency of literary arts and attached great importance to folk fales on records.
Go-getters would say that, humour give lessens and impetuses to the people. But this only a specified theory by a situation of the limes. They preferably emphasized the humorous amousement as "materials breaking off leisure".
Then they have understood that menial fatigue, melancholy stress, agitation, etc, was dissolved by delight and laughs from the humor. So they thought that it`s just a worth of humors and that such things as making our laughs are humorous and satiric enough to concentrate the interest of lectures.
A collection of stories of Yong-jae by Sung Hyun is composed of some falk tales and records. Among them, the following is the summary about concentrated substance in humorous proses.
1. The humor, like that a Buddhist monk indulges in greed of things and the sensual pleasure, reflects truly the corrupt morals of monk who plays the hypocrite on the pretext of belief and abuses of the buddhism at the former Yi dynasty. And Sung-Hyun also has his intention that wants to reprove die degenerate monk and represents his view of buddhism. So these records are valuable not only as historical materials but as a high level of literary work with many witty humors.
2. Anecdotes of a gisaeng, a kind of dancing girls, that Sung-Hyun kept a record of his observations are humorous stories connected with the aristocreatic class, called Yang-Ran, and contain abundantly the aspect of social life for the most part. Laughs often come when the contradictoriness of Yang Ban get disclosed humorously with his human instinct. The dignity of a Confucian scholar was broken by the humor and he became a being who can be identified with common people. So then, heros in this work weren`t merely attached to the lewdness but tried to make the style of great human being who can conquer troubles and inceonsistancies.
in this aspect, though a writer treated the sexual problem, we must not understand that the sex itself is indecent and that a writer has a myopic idea. Instead of that with describing immoral and illegal acts without reserve, a writer tried to light up the human original nature that thirsts for getting rid of Confucian habits at the feudal age of Yi dynasty.
3. At that time, a novel was a record of current stories around town. That literary men or scholars kept a record of observations is a faithful reflection of their concerns about the common people. They made these tales his topics with humors, it showed us their opened human mind. At last they could be familiar with feelings of the common people. So the hurmorous proses are meaningful as popular literature.
In conclusion, if I add one thing, these falk tales are also of great significance at the development process of novel history. Because these records were haromonized with a modern historic novel and had a short Chinese novel of the latter Yi dynasty, even if they didn`t have novel`s construction yet and even if they are flat and cut into proses.