Yi Munyǒl’s new mythology of Kim Pyǒngyǒn. “The Siin”
Abstract
The present article examines some aspects of Yi Munyǒl’s novel Siin (The Poet, 1991) that could be comprehended as a new biography of the vagabond poet Kim Pyǒngyǒn (金炳淵, 1807–1863, better known as Kim Rip/Sakkat 金笠, 김삿갓), or as an author’s reconstruction and re-evaluation of the phases of his poetry. Rejecting all the legendary based biographies that were created during the 20th century, it could also serve as a new mythology. In the firstpart, the article summarizes the possible historical and legendary sources that Yi Munyǒl could use, relation between the “veritable” and “fictitious” plot texture, the affinitybetweenKim Sakkat and Yi Munyǒl and the common features of their experience. This text also notices the possible message of the novel, the themes that appeared in it and author’s interventions in the text. In the second part attention is given to dealing with the historical background, settings, to the protagonists of the novel, the spatio-temporal categories, the plot essayistic structure etc.
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