聖談 혹은 怪談, 그 인식적 간극 - 古記소재 神話에 대한 지식인의 반응을 중심으로

Abstract

"Gogi" is similar to a history book yet is the oldest collection of tales that include plenty of tales. History books of posterity including "the Heritage of the Three Stages" and Buddhist books cited Gogi-based myths or made comments on the myths. So the view of Confucian and Buddhist intellectuals about myths could be inferred from these books. There was positive and negative myth awareness among intellectuals. Buddhist intellectuals took a positive attitude toward myths. As some said that "Gogi" was written by a Buddhist monk, Buddhist intellectuals didn't merely look at myths as evidence of history. They received them as holy stories about a world that couldn't be understood phenomenologically or about the birth of persons with divine power and their great accomplishments. Any attempt to verify the myths or being skeptical about them were definitely considered to be blasphemous. On the other hand, Confucian intellectuals just paid attention to myths in association with history that was proven. They depreciated myths as groundless strange stories that couldn't be interpreted in a rational manner. It seemed because they had a rational disposition that focused on empirical evidence, and the influence of social environments that was immensely affected by neo-Confucian world view seemed to be another reason. For Confucian intellectuals, "Gogi" was only an unrealistic fiction, not historical materials that showed the history of ancient times. They just emphasized that myths couldn't be called history, neglecting their attributes and diverse functions. Gogi-based myths were considered to be significant as memorable national stories by Confucian intellectuals as well as Buddhist ones from the end of Goryeo Dynasty to the early years of Joseon Dynasty. After Japanese invasion of Korea, however, this book wasn't acknowledged as worthwhile as literature. Rather, it was regarded as a book of strange stories that deluded contemporary people. Indeed, there were great disparities in myth awareness according to the times, social status and world view.