The Anguish and Literary Expressions of The Intellectuals During the War Period(戰亂期) of the Choseon(朝鮮) Dynasty
- Focused on Chan-han, Jo(趙纘韓), aka Hyun-ju(玄洲) -*
Park, Jeong-Min
Department of Classical Chinese
Graduate School, Kyungpook National University
Daegu, Korea
(Supervised by Professor Park Yeong-Ho)
(Abstract)
It is generally said that the middle of Choseon Dynasty was the turbulent era due to many wars and party strife. The writers of the time mitigated the mental conflicts and pain of people by placing the suffering of reality and the troubles of the era in the literacy they created.
Chan-han, Jo(趙纘韓, aka Hyun-ju(玄洲), 1572 to 1631) is one of the most typical writers of the time. Born from a noble family, also known as Sun-sool(善述), Hyun-ju(玄洲) and Hyun- bu(玄夫), he consecutively filled various governmental posts during his lifetime. He lost his family during the two wars against Japan, and went through many troubles in his career because of his disadvantageous political background called Seoin(西人系). Every time he underwent those ordeals of life, he expressed his mentality and sense of duty as an intellectual of the time through the creation of literacy.
This study has looked into how Chan-han, Jo who lived in the middle of the Choseon Dynasty, the era of confusion, expressed his private and social anguish as an intellectual in literary ways.
The inconvenient mentality included in his writings will be inspected in chapter Ⅱ. In Chan- han, Jo’s writings, things such as mental trauma and yearning for the dead caused by the wars, complaints towards the irrational political system of the time, worries about worldly wisdom, and the sense of shame were revealed.
The trace that Chan-han, Jo tried to heal his mental trauma through the creation of writings will be searched in chapter Ⅲ. He was comforted by literary communication with his friends. Also, he tried to resolve his mental stuffiness making an imaginary world in his writings.
Through autobiographical metaphor and discussion, he attempted to search and accept his own stance.
The sense of duty as an intellectual of the time and the solutions to improve the social system that Chan-han, Jo had will be checked in chapter Ⅳ. He often emphasized that the role of the governmental officials should be considered more important than ever before. He also highlighted the importance of the engagement of talent. Lastly, he insisted that the ideology of Confucianism should be implemented in order to restore order.
With his extraordinary passion for creation, Chan-han, Jo sublimated his personal and social troubles through various writings. He made a remarkable prosperity of literacy in the middle of the Choseon Dynasty. Studies on his literacy and writings are very important steps to review various developments of literacy of the time. I hope its characteristics and values would be found through more diversified studies in the future.