초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The theme of The Nine Cloud Dream has been an interesting topic in academia. In previous scholarship, The Nine Cloud Dream has mainly dealt with its philosophical context. Some scholars point out that Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are mixed together in the novel, and other scholars maintain that Buddhism is at the center of the novel. From this group, one scholar addresses the specific Buddhist concept of “emptiness (gong 空)” from The Diamond Sutra (Kŭmganggyŏng 金剛經). Most scholars generally had a tendency to associate Buddhist thoughts or the concepts of “emptiness” with the lesson from the last part of this novel that life is but an empty dream. They regard this novel as a work teaching the lesson that life is futile. Regarding this argument about the theme of the work, a new argument has been suggested: that we should find the theme of this novel in the Confucian hero, Yang So-yoo, whose whole life occupies the major part of the novel. However, although a few scholars have tried to find the work’s main theme from Yang So-yoo’s life, they have not applied any strict methodology in attempting to do so. Thus, in this paper, I will first examine methodology for deducing the theme, and then will proceed to identify the theme of The Nine Cloud Dream on the basis of such methodology. In this paper, I point out that it was impertinent for previous scholars to mention both ‘spiritual enlightenment’ and ‘lesson’ in discussing the theme of this novel. This is largely because the storyline of this novel is not relevant to any lesson. In the last part of the novel, the reason ‘spiritual enlightenment’ comes up is because it is a kind of device for description, which functions not only to alter previous description but also to bring that description to a conclusion. If the theme of The Nine Cloud Dream is ‘enlightenment’ or ‘lesson,’ many readers should agree with the lesson, but actually it is hard to find someone who would be enlightened by the lesson that emerges from the work. The primary flow of the description of the novel is Yang So-yoo’s involvement with a lot of women as well as his successful career path. Furthermore, the theme of this novel seems to be more focused on living in harmony. If we look at the last quarter of the novel, the author does not develop a storyline, but only shows a small community around Yang So-yoo with a view of living in harmony. Therefore, we can conclude that the theme of The Nine Cloud Dream shows an ideal life for the world of human beings. This ideal life was derived from the order of Confucianism. The author, Kim Manjung (1637-1692) intended to show the theme by borrowing from the thoughts of Buddhism in the last part of his work. Consolation is most important for readers to be given the realization of the ideal life based on Confucianism or enlightenment by turning Buddhism around. In light of this, we should review the reason why Kim Manjung wrote this novel. It was because Kim wanted to console his mother living in his hometown, while he was in political exile. This reason enables us to reconfirm the significance of the theme.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Kuunmong, The Nine Cloud Dream, Theme of Novel, Kim Manjung, Consolation
