조선조 문인의 지리산 청학동 유람과 공간 인식

Abstract

This study set out to investigate literary figures’ space perceptions in Joseon as they were reflected in “Cheonghakdong of Mt. Jiri” by looking into the excursion records of the mountain. In the present study, Cheonghakdong of Mt. Jiri refers to the area around Bul-il Falls behind the Ssanggye Buddhist Temple in Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam Province. In Joseon, excursions to Mt. Jiri mainly targeted its highest peak Cheonwangbong and Cheonghakdong with more than 80% of visitors being the literary figures in the line of Nammyeong School. In other words, the space perceptions that had been reflected in Cheonghakdong for hundreds of years represent the spatial understanding of literary figures in the line of Nammyeong School for Cheonghakdong. Cheonghakdong of Mt. Jiri was manifested in a process of checking the spatial meanings of Cheonghakdong repeatedly among the previous sages including Lee In-ro. Visits to the place had never stopped since Imjinwaeran and continued into the latter half of Joseon. In most cases, it was the interest in Cheonghakdong of Choi Chi-won, who was called the Taoist Hermit of Cheonghakdong, that attracted visitors to the place rather than the space itself. The literary figures of Joseon wanted to escape from the agony of reality even for a while through the Taoist hermit image reflected in Choi. Of those literature figures, Jo Shik, one of practical intellectuals in Joseon, showed his unique space perceptions after his excursion to the place. He 145 조선조 문인의 지리산 청학동 유람과 공간 인식constantly ruminated over the sense of identity of realistic intellectuals at Cheonghakdong, a transcendent space, thus granting new meanings to the space. Even though he visited the same place as other literary figures, he put an emphasis on the realistic sense of identity in the space that was not his Utopia, which reflects his personal tendency for spatial perceptions. His perceptions led to the formation of new spatial understanding of Cheonghakdong among the later generations of Nammyeong School. In the turbulent times of 19th and 20th century, in particular, the Gangwoo scholars in the line of Nammyeong School longed for Nammyeong Jo Shik, who was the guiding star in the region in a crisis, and tried to preserve and restore his spirit and teaching. In that process, Cheonghakdong, which had inherited his teaching for hundreds of years, made a meteoric rise. In the end, Cheonghakdong of Mt. Jiri was turned from the space of Choi Chi-won to that of Nammyeong Jo Shik through them.