군도를 보는 士의 양가적 시선 –「金生傳」과 「責失信警罰布衣」를 중심으로

Abstract

This study examines the extent and direction in which Yadam (野談) writers influenced the creation of Gundodam (群盜談). It examines The Tale of Scholar Kim (金生傳), The Bandit Leader Who Denounced an Old Friend’s Betrayal (責失信警罰布衣), and their analogous stories as key sources, while referring to bandit-related diary records as comparative sources. In The Tale of Scholar Kim, the writers incorporated a character already present in popular hearsay — a bandit leader originally from the Sa (士) class who turned to banditry due to misfortune. However, the writers reinterpreted this character’s motivations, depicting him as being unwittingly led to the bandits’ stronghold and subsequently appointed as their leader. Similarly, they justified acts of theft as a form of punishment against greedy wealthy individuals, a concept based in contemporary hearsay. However, more radical or anti-establishment motivations — such as resistance to the state’s distributive monopoly or the rejection of fixed ownership — were deliberately excluded. Additionally, the writers appended an ending in which the main character transitions the bandits into Yangmin (良民). These transformations, omissions, and additions reflect the writers’ ambivalence toward banditry. In other words, they were drawn to the subject because it allowed them to vicariously fulfill the “self-realization as the Sa,” yet they were uncomfortable with the anti-establishment elements associated with banditry. This is also evident in The Bandit Leader Who Denounced an Old Friend's Betrayal. A distinguishing feature of this tale, however, is that the rationale for theft extends beyond “distributive justice” to include “economic ethics.” Thus, while the writers’ general orientations were similar, differences emerged depending on the historical context or the individual writer’s perspective.