Kim Si-seup

Kim Si-seup
Hangul 김시습
Hanja 金時習
Revised Romanization Kim Si-seup
McCune–Reischauer Kim Sisŭp
Pen name
Hangul 매월당
Hanja 梅月堂
Revised Romanization Maewoldang
McCune–Reischauer Maewŏltang

Kim Si-seup (1434–1493) was a Korean scholar and author.

Contents

Background

Kim Si-seup's ancestors originally came from Gangneung, Gangwon-do, but Kim himself was born in Seoul.

Throughout his life, Kim maintained a special bond with the Gangwon area and compiled a book of poetry called Tangyugwandongnok which was based on family history and experiences he had in the area. Kim was an extremely gifted child and had picked up reading ability at eight months of age. At five years of age, he was able to read and comphrehend The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean. Kim was a devout Buddhist and at twenty-one years of age he decided to skip government service and become a priest.

Works

Kim wrote the first novel in Classical chinese in Korea, titled Geumosinhwa (금오신화; 金鰲新話), as well as other books such as Siphyeondamyohae, Tangyugwanseorok, and Tangyuhonamnok. Geumosinhwa (New stories from Mount Geumo) was likely composed at Yongjang Temple during the reign of King Sejong[1] and became an instant classic. Although Geumosinhwa was influenced by a Chinese novel titled Jiandeng xinhua (New stories for trimming the lampwick) by Qu You, it would become nativized and later have considerable influence on Japanese novels.

Another characteristic lies in his own writing. He did not prefer only Confucianism and tried to deal with Buddhism. It appeared in several books of his that the king and subjects should respect the whole nation regardless of a person's status and origin. It was believed his thought was much advanced compared to the era in which he lived and remained one of the earliest ideas concerning democracy on the Korean peninsula.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Han'guk ŭi kojŏn ŭl ingnŭnda 한국의 고전을 읽는다 [Reading Korea's classics], vol. 2, Kojŏn munhak chung: Yet sosŏl, yet norae 고전문학 中: 옛소설•옛노래 [Classical literature II: Old fiction, old songs], by Kim Chongch’ŏl 김종철, Sŏ Chiyŏng 서지영, Song Sŏnguk 송성욱, et al. (Seoul: Hyumŏnisŭt’ŭ, 2006), 19–20.
  2. ^ Translated from data of Ministry of Culture of Korea http://person.mct.go.kr/person/data/person_view.jsp?cp_seq=100

External links