동아시아에서의 서적의 유통과 지식의 생성 -壬辰倭亂 이후의 인적 교류와 서적의 유통 사례를 중심으로-

Abstract

By obtaining and circulating imported books and knowledge from East Asian countries, Korean intellectuals in the late Chosŏn Dynasty were able to extend their literary and cultural horizon. This new extended intellectual and culturallandscape was conducive for them to understand new contemporary trends of learning and art, and also to form a new frame of thoughts. The importation and circulation of books through the tributary missions to Qing China and the communication missions to Tokugawa Japan as well as the Korean intellectuals’ exchanges with their counterparts in those countries made a not a little contribution to the formation of a cultural bridge between Qing China and Tokugawa Japan. This paper discovers the trans-national circulation of books among three East Asian countries as shown in Pyohaerok (Records of shipwreck), Yewŏn chiŏn, and Oehan samjae hoedo, and also examines the knowledge and information contained these books. This indicates that many Chosŏn intellectuals were active in embracing varied cultural elements from abroad and using them to open new fields of knowledge. In particular, many Chosŏn diplomatic envoys played an important role in importing the new information and knowledge from foreign countries, and in circulation them at home, thus providing inspiration for new ways thinking. Moreover, the records on the missions to China and Japan provide an intellectual forum in which trans-national perspectives could be advanced, thus enriching intellectual discourse among contemporary Korean intellectuals, and eventually playing a part in dismantling the established scholarly authority and value.