능호관(凌壺觀) 이인상(李麟祥) 문학 연구

Abstract

The present research intends to promote a broader and more comprehensive understanding of Neunghogwan(凌壺觀) Lee Insang(李麟祥, 1710-1760)s notion of aesthetics and cognition by expanding his paintings and calligraphic works further to literary works. By thoroughly and minutely analyzing the characteristics displayed in his works of poetry and prose, which have not been made widely known, this research aims at establishing the essence of his literary dimension. For the purpose of this study, the principal text that was used was Noesanggwango(雷象觀藁), a collection of Lee Insangs manuscripts. This collection is being preserved by the authors descendants and constitutes a rather novel document, the content of which has not been disclosed. This dissertation is largely divided into three parts. The first part embodies a bibliographical examination of the three categories of the current literary collection. The second part reveals a primordial research on the authors life and the third part develops a full-scale analysis of the literary work. The bibliographical examination follows two distinct directions. First, I will review the existing types of literary collections and the details of their development. Secondly, I will compare the works included in each of Noesanggwango and Neunghojip(凌壺集). These collections include Neunghojip, the printed version, Noesanggwango, the manuscript owned by the authors family, and Noesanggwanjip(雷象觀集), another ancient manuscript owned by the Lee family from Hansan(韓山李氏家). This work and concurrent analysis reveal the existence of a system stemming from the ancient manuscript from the Hansan Lee family, to the poetry in Noesanggwango(It is comprised of poetry(詩藁) and prose(文藁)), and finally leading to Neunghojip. A further inquiry into the access trend of Noesanggwango and Neunghojip admits the latter was compiled by eliminating about 7/10 of the former. The research on the authors life is a fundamental undertaking to appraise the context of the period during which the literary work by Lee Insang was created. A survey into Noesanggwango and diverse circumstantial evidences and documents have been the basis for an understanding of the authors familys characteristics, the relation between mentor and disciple, as well as between peers, and his political standpoint. By assaying the general atmosphere of 18th Century Chosǒn and the path of life Lee Insang chose in the midst of such, this thesis investigates the course through which his literature became the corner stone for the severe conflict with reality. The analysis of his literary work is composed of three distinct subjects. The first deals with the features of the literary dimension related to the tragic perception of reality, the second with those related to the traditional artistic outlook and the third with those in relation to the perception of the other. In answering to the tragic perception of realty and aspiration for transcendence, works corresponding to the former are in majority recorded in Neunghojip, whereas those that strongly reveal traits of the latter are only preserved in Noesanggwango. Lee Insang managed to create a literary world that exposed his internal conflict and the in congruence formed by his hostility towards the trends of times he could not agree with and his undeniable responsibility to his period. By reviving his peculiar stance and the discord he had to endure against the world, this thesis makes it plain that the aspect related to the morals governing the world and his sense of responsibility as nobility, as revealed in his oeuvre, does not clash with his tendency revering the mystique and yearning for the unearthly dimension. What this thesis reveals instead is that Lee Insang erected an opposition to reality equated by his desire for transcendence and that he did not succumb to a compromise with his times. The works that clearly display an aesthetic tendency amongst the appreciation for ideology and aesthetics are mostly included in Noesanggwango. Lee Insang pursued tradition as the common standard for ethics and aesthetics, following which belief this literature displays traits of an internal combination of ideology and aesthetics. In his records of travels depicting the sceneries of water and mountains(Sansuki 山水記), he restrains from a direct debate. Instead, he projects his ideology onto the description of the scenery and creates a new form of aesthetics. On the other hand, he awakens the issues embedded in the traditions of the Late Ming dynasty and applies himself the principle that records of literature and paintings should not result in debauchery. As such, Lee Insangs literature can be interpreted as combining ideology and aesthetics through tradition and assuring that both poles not clash into extremes, all of the which leads to the achievement of in-depth content and complete formality. Finally, in terms of his insight in friendship and on the otherness, the works that reveal his fellowship as son from a lowborn mother(Seo-eol 庶孼) and his compassion for the disadvantaged classes in society and his acceptance of popular literature are mainly incorporated in Noesanggwango. The relation Lee Insang developed with the other can be divided into three strata. The first is his solidarity with his peers from nobility, the second is his friendship with men born from lowborn mothers, and the third is his interest and compassion for the less privileged members of society and the popular range. The first demonstrates that Lee Insang overcame the difference in social status with his peers from nobility through the Neo-Confucianist ideology. Despite such communion, the second aspect unveils the fact that he did not forget his own social class and continued to relate with people besides nobility. Finally, the third stance affirms he took his own status as a base to understand and develop compassion for the common people and those placed in the margins. Lee Insang especially developed a unique relationship with Lee Yoonyoung(李胤永, 1714-1759), Oh Chan(吳瓚, 1717-1751), Song Munhum(宋文欽, 1710-1752), and Shin So(申韶, 1715-1755) by sharing similar political positions and literary and artistic tendencies. Focusing on Lee Insang and his particular consciousness of kind, this paper proposes to name them the Tanho(丹壺) group. Research on Lee Insang has so far been limited to the boundaries of art history and his paintings and calligraphic works had been the extent of attention. The purpose of this present study is to provide discussion that will allow for his literary works to gain similar significance and thus to propose that it is difficult to accommodate a true and comprehensive understanding of his aesthetic insight if research is solely limited to his artistic work. Furthermore this thesis expects that this will be an opportunity to correct the traditional viewpoint concerning Lee Insang in the lights of ideal man or thorough conservative will be corrected, from which a more diversified research will be made available to focus on the various aspects of his artistic world.

Keywords : Lee Insang, Neunghogwan, Noesanggwango, Neunghojip, Tanho group Student number : 2002-30902