『後歎先生訂正註解西廂記』의 특징과『西廂記』 受容史에서 갖는 의의

Abstract

Seosanggi Edited by Hutan 後嘆先生訂正註解西廂記 is a reference for Seosanggi reading written by Mun Han-miong 文漢命. By analyzing the preface and exegesis written by Mun, we can find three main characters of this book. First of all this book targeted the readers with low literacy. While the most of the Seosanggi readers in the eighteenth century was men of high standard, people from various social status came to read Seosanggi in nineteenth century, and it was difficult for the readers from the low class to read Seosanggi containing unfamiliar vocabularies. They demanded references to read Seosanggi. Mun made his Seosanggi edition with these new readers in mind. Mun did not try to conceal or condemn the love affair between the hero and the heroine in the Seosanggi, rather highlighted it. In the preface, he gave a high praise for the fact that the author had dealt with the love affair between a man and a woman, also he put a long exegesis in chapter 13 which has a scene of sexual intercourse between the two. Mun added straightforward explanations to the indirect descriptions of the original. It is associated with the fact that the new readers were more interested in the tasteful details themselves, not so interested in the original’s literary styles. Jin Shengtan’s Seosanggi edition attracted the literary men in Joseon Dynasty in the eighteenth century because of its literary style and initiative idea, but it didn’t appeal to the new readers in the nineteenth century. Mun tried to meet the taste of the new readers. It is definitely difficult to find the influence of Jin Shengtan in Seosanggi Edited by Hutan. This book does not have an annotation, or a transcription of Jin Shengtan’s comments. Mun also didn’t even mention Jin Shengtan’s comments in his exegesis. These are the evidence showing that the readers’ interest in Jin Shengtan’s comments decreased along the decline of the literacy of the readers in the nineteenth century, and that compared to eighteenth century, so-called Jin Shengtan craze became relatively silent in the nineteenth century.