Kim Man-jung (金萬重, 1637-1692) belonged to the Kim clan of Gwangsan, and went by the pseudonyms Jungsuk (重淑) and Seopo (西浦), and the posthumous epithet Mun-hyo (文孝). He was the great-grandson of the godfather of mid- Joseon dynasty neo-Confucian studies, Kim Jang-saeng (金長生), and the son to Kim Ik-kyeom, who was martyrized during the Qing invasion of Joseon. Kim Man-jung’s niece and daughter to his older brother Kim Man-gi, would become Queen Ingyeon and first wife to King Sukjong. Kim Man-jung wrote the book of essays titled Seopomanpil (西浦漫筆 Essays by Kim Man-jung), and his claim to fame in the history of Korean literature is as the author of Guunnmong (九雲夢 The Nine Cloud Dream) and Sassinamjeonggi (謝氏南征記 Lady Sa’s Journey to the South).
1. Life
Because Kim Man-jung’s father Kim Ik-kyeom died on Ganghwa Island during the Qing invasion of Joseon before he was born, Kim Man-jung was influenced heavily by his mother, Yun Haepyeong. In fact, his mother devoted herself to the upbringing of Kim Man-jung and his brother Kim Man-gi. Despite not having much money, she spared no expense when it came to buying books for her two sons, and went as far as to copy by hand books she had borrowed to make study materials for her sons. This sacrifice of hers influenced Kim Man-jung’s life greatly.
In 1665 Kim Man-jung received top scores in the civil service examinations and made his debut as a government official in the royal court. However, because of the political strife between the Westerns and the Southerners (two factions that existed in the Joseon dynasty), Kim Man-jung’s life as a government official would be far from easy. Despite taking posts at the government institutes in charge of overseeing education and the literary arts, in 1674 there was a controversy regarding funeral etiquette during King Hyeonjeong’s funeral—referred to as Gabinyesong (甲寅禮訟)—and during this conflict Kim Man-jung was exiled for opposing the Southerners and criticizing Heo Jeok, the leader of the Southerners. After being reinstated to the royal court in 1679, however, and after the Westerners ousted the Southerners and took control—an event commonly referred to as Gyeongshinhwanguk (庚申換局)—Kim Man-jung took the government positions of gongjopanseo (工曹判書) and daesaheon (大司憲), but in 1689 during an event known as Gisahwanguk (己巳換局), in which the Southerners took power once again, Kim Man-jung was again resigned from his posts and exiled, this time to Namhae.
During his exile, he wrote the work Guunmong to console his mother who was left all alone, as well as the work Sassinamjeonggi. However, not long after his second exile, his mother died of a disease and Kim Man-jung, still stuck in exile, was unable to attend his mother’s funeral. In 1692, the same year after completing the period of mourning following his mother’s death, Kim Man-jung died while at his place of exile in Namhae. The home which he stayed during his exile until his death still remains till this day. In 1698, Kim Man-jung’s official rank was restored, and in 1706 he was given a post-humous epithet in honor of his acts of filial piety.
2. Writing
Kim Man-jung’s works include a book of poems titled Seopojib (西浦集 Poems by Kim Man-jung), a book of essays titled Seopomanpil (西浦漫筆), and two novels, Guunmong and Sassinamjeonggi. Seopomanpil is organized into two sections spanning a single book, and his novels Guunmong and Sassinamjeonggi have been preserved in various forms, including copies in Hangeul and classical Chinese, as well as copies that have been produced via woodblock printing, hand copying, and traditional printing. Whereas Seopomanpil is an important document providing insight into the author’s views on literature, his two novels hold their own merit as important works in the history of Korean classics.
In his work Samgwangi (三官記 Record of the Three Senses), Chae Yi (李縡) said that “Kim Man-jung, who was extremely filially pious, wrote Guunmong to console his mother.” Guunmong is a story about Seong-jin (性眞), a disciple to Master Yukgwan (六觀大師), who is banished to the human world for engaging in worldly pleasures with 8 fairies, where he is reborn as man named Yang Soyu (楊少游). In his new life, Seong-jin (now Yang Soyu) engages in several wars and enjoys a luxurious life, rising to the highest ranks of government and taking 8 women (the reincarnation of the 8 fairies in his previous life) as his wives. But in the waning years of his life, he feels the transience of his life and decides to turn to the way of Buddha with his eight wives. This work is regarded as a work of mongyusoseol (夢遊小說), a genre of classical Korean fiction that plays out characters’ desires and ideals through dreams.
Sassinamjeonggi is sometimes just shortened to Namjeonggi (南征記 Journey to the South). Kim Man-jung, who was exiled for opposing the crowning of Lady Hui-bui Jang after King Sukjong deposed Queen Inhyeon, is said to have written Sassinamjeonggi in order to convince the king of his mistake. The story itself is set in the Ming dynasty and tells the story of Master Yu (劉翰林 or 劉延壽) and his first and second wives, the virtuous Lady Sa (謝氏) and the scheming Lady Kyo (喬氏), respectively. It is said that later, King Sukjong read the story and was so moved that he decided to reinstate Queen Inhyeon.
By writing Seopomanpil, Kim Man-jung also made a large impact on the times as a literary critic. The work is a piece that criticizes poetic discourse and criticism, and muses on a wide variety of topics—including, history, literature, Confucian scholars, Buddhism, the study of Yin-yang, and astronomy—while at the same time connecting them to society and the reality of the times. The work advocates a revivalist or nativist approach toward literature, and this became the basis for his praise of Jeong Cheol’s gasa, a form of poetry that were commonly sung during the Joseon dynasty. In addition to this, he displayed a preference for goakbu (古樂府 old-fashioned akbu) and munseonchae (文選體), valued dignity and vigor, and praised literary criticism that pursued individualism.
Kim Man-jung offered a progressive literary theory for the time. In particular, his ideas which admired gasa written in hangeul were before their time and contained pioneering literary concepts. Comparing poems written by nobility in classical Chinese to parrots that mimic human speech, Kim Man-jung even said that, although crude is the language used by boy woodcutters from the common sector and wives at the well to fetch water, when it came to discussing candidly matters of truth and fiction, such language was preferable to Chinese poetry written by the nobility—demonstrating how much his ideas on literature and language valued native vernacular. And based on these ideas, Kim Man-jung even pointed to certain works by Jeong Cheol—such as “Gwandongbyeolgok” (關東別曲Song of Gwandong), “Samiingok” (思美人曲 Song of Longing for My King), and “Songmiingok” (續美人曲 Sequel to Song of Longing for My King)—and praised them as works of true Korean literature. His viewing of classical Chinese as another country’s language was truly ground-breaking.
Not surprisingly, Kim Man-jung composed Sassinamjeonggi and Guunmong in hangeul, a feat which has been praised as laying the ground work for the novels that came after Kim Si-seup’s “Geumoshinhwa” (金鰲新話 New Tales of Mount Geumo). Guunmong in particular has influenced the works of later generations, inspiring such works as “Ongnyumong” (玉樓夢 Dream of a Jade Palace) and “Ongnyeonmong” (玉蓮夢 Dream of a Jade Lotus). Regardless of Kim Man-jung’s motivations for writing the novel, because it takes such a distinctive form in comparison to the novels that came before it, Guunmong is an immortal masterpiece in the literary history of classical Korean novels.
Reference
1. Sun-geung Kwon, Dong-heun Shin, Hyeong-dae Lee, Chul-heon Jeong, Hyeon-seol Cho, Jae-gyo Jin. The Living Textbook of Korean Classics. Humanist Books, 2011.
2. Ahn, Dae-hwa. “Kim Man-jung’s Revivalist and Nativist Literary Theory in the Context of the History of 17th Century Literary Criticism.” Journal of Korean Literary History 20, 2002.
3. Jeong, Min. “Kim Man-jung’s Views of Criticism as They Appear in Seopomanpil.” Journal of Korean Language and Culture 22, 2002.
4. “Seopojib.” Database of Korean Classics. Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics:
http://db.itkc.or.kr/dir/item?grpId=hj#dir/node?grpId=hj&itemId=MI&gubun=book&depth=3&cate1=Z&cate2=&dataGubun=서지&dataId=ITKC_MI_0416A
5. “Sassinamjeonggi.” Doopedia. Doosan Corporation:
http://www.doopedia.co.kr/doopedia/master/master.do?_method=view&MAS_IDX=101013000846056
6. “Guunmong.” Doopedia. Doosan Corporation:
http://www.doopedia.co.kr/doopedia/master/master.do?_method=view&MAS_IDX=101013000787995
7. “Kim Man-jung.” Doopedia. Doosan Corporation:
http://www.doopedia.co.kr/doopedia/master/master.do?_method=view&MAS_IDX=101013000787995
8. “Seopomanpil.” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. The Academy of Korean Studies.
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0009082
