This article intends to explore how verses are used in biographical texts on the assumption that to employ verses in a discourse can be considered as a strategy for enhancing the effect of writing. This article concretely has two goals: one is to trac...
This article intends to explore how verses are used in biographical texts on the assumption that to employ verses in a discourse can be considered as a strategy for enhancing the effect of writing. This article concretely has two goals: one is to trace back the origins of ``biographical type`` of prose-verse mixed styled discourses(PVMSD) and the other is to examine some cases of biographical type of PVMSD in Korea relating to the origins. As for the origins of the biographical type of the PVMSD, I consider the Chunchu Jwassijeon as its primordial form, the Yo llyo jo n and the Yo lso njo n as the first instances of respectively Confucian and Taoist categories; the Samjang po psajo n and the Taedang so yo k kubo b kosu ngjo n as the first instances of Buddhist category, and the biographies of the Huhanso as the first case of the biographies of official historical records. In exploring the origins of the biographical type of the PVMSD, it might be the best way to look into the closing part of a text since in case of this type verses are situated in the last of three component parts--introduction, achievements, and closure--. The closing part of the biographical type falls into 5 forms, which can be classified again into 2 upper categories: one is that the closing part has an argumentative statement and the other is that it has not. In this article, I discussed that the closing form of the former category constitutes a salient feature of the Confucian biographical type. As for the Korean biographical type of the PVMSD, I looked at the Hwarang segi, the biographical texts in the Samguk yusa, and biographies in the late Choson period written by the men of middle class such as Cho Su-sam, Yu Chae-gon, and Cho Hui-ryong. Of these, the Hwarang segi is specifically significant in the sense that it can be considered to be the first case of the Korean biographical type of the PVMSD and it, in its closing form, succeeds the Taoist lineage originated from the Yo lso njo n. Further, the biographical texts in the Samguk yusa are notable in that, even though they work with Buddhism-related figures and objects, they to some extent accept the closing pattern of the biographical type of the Confucian lineage.