The literary theory of jea-do-gi-ki was declared as the Chosun dynasty emerged itself on a page of the history. All throughout the dynasty, literacy was merely considered as a container which only served its purpose by containing Neo-Confucianism with...
The literary theory of jea-do-gi-ki was declared as the Chosun dynasty emerged itself on a page of the history. All throughout the dynasty, literacy was merely considered as a container which only served its purpose by containing Neo-Confucianism within.
This somewhat rigorous theory functioned as a cartel that caged literacy until the end of the dynasty. However, in the earlier days of 17th century, a movement which aimed to divide literacy from Neo- Confucianism ideology was observed. The tendency was finally theorized and established when it came to Jo gwi myoung, which he named Do-mun-boon-li. Jo gye myoung stressed the beauty of literacy itself. Thereby, he produced each unique works which were not shackled to any ideas. It was possible due to the fact that he laid Ju-ui-ron literary theory on the very foundation level.
This thesis firstly examined where Jo gye myoung‘s rather distinctive works derive its origin from. The criticism towards Su Dong Po can be seen here and there in ‘Dong-gye-jip’. After some analyzing took place, it was revealed that the main ideas of Dong-gye’s literary theory such as Gyeon-sik and Hea-o were roughly based on Su Dong Po‘s literary theory. In addition, Dong-gye drastically criticized Ming dynasty Ui-go-pa Jeon-hu-chil-ja’s classical literary theory but displayed a favorable relation to Song dynasty’s literary circles. Presumably, it resulted from Dong-gye having well-read Gong-an-pa and Jeon-gyeom-ik’s work.
Moreover, Dong-gye’s association with Chosun literary circles were studied, mainly with such literates as Kim-chang-hyeop, Kim-chang-heup, Li-ha-gon. After the fall of Ming dynasty, Dong-gye asserted that the essence of East Asian literacy was in Chosun. He also commented that by the contribution from Kim Nong Am brothers, Chosun’s literacy was elevated and now roughly at the same level as Ming’s. It seems that Dong-gye’s unique literary theory was established upon the solid ground that Kim Nong Am brothers have stomped with anti imitation of ancient style logic.
In ‘transfiguration of syntax’, the transformation of the two main ideas of Dong-gye, ‘Do-mun-boon-li’ and ‘Bang-go-chang-sin’ along with his life was contemplated. Dong-gye in his 20s defended himself concentrating solely on producing works without Neo-Confucianism, but him in 30s revealed a strong will to engage in writing with his very own view by establishing the logic that expressions and Neo-Confucianism are not related.
Same goes for the Bang-go-chang-sin. By the age of 21, Dong-gye was only able to compromise between Bang-go and chang-sin. However, 20 years later he re-established the idea ‘Jeok-ui’ with the new standard of compromising ‘Ui’. Not only distributing them in a row, but uniformly practicing them in ‘Ju-ui-ron’ suggests a great significance.
Lastly in ‘reality of the Dong-gye prose, ‘Dong-gye-jip’‘s biography and rhetorical writing were extracted and analyzed, not to mention how above Dong-gye’s theory were actually applied.