『택리지』에 나타난 ‘국토지리’의 서술 방식과 지리적 논리

Abstract

This study points out that conventional geographical assessments of T'aengniji(擇里志) stay on to examine it as a writing of human geography, and tries to reveal the nature and manner of narratives in T'aengniji as a writing of regional geographies of land. The nature and manner of narratives in T'aengniji as a writing of regional geographies of land could not be seen clinging to each part of T'aengniji apart, and might be understood when we read it at a run. It is necessary to interpretate T'aengniji as a whole by studying parts of T'aengniji with a viewpoint of correlation and association rather than grasping the details that make up T'aengniji decontextually. T'aengniji has many copies more than one hundred with varying names, but there is no doubt that the main content of the book is Paldochonnon(八道總論) and Bokeochongnon(卜居總論). Paldochongnon which describes regional geographies of each province of land in the late Chosŏn dynasty accounts for more than half of the total amount of the book. Bokeochongnon which becomes known to us as the key section of human geography in T'aengniji, in fact, is considered to be a section of regional geographies of land which reconstruct regional geographies of each province from the perspective of geographical generalization. Paldochongnon and Bokeochongnon that are the main discourse of T'aengniji display a variety of geographical logics which perceive and describe our land. And, the rest of the book, i.e. Saminchongnon(四民總論), Chongnon(總論), and epilogue(跋文) show the writer Lee Joong Hwan's awareness of land and his geographic logics to recognize and describe land. Content framework and narrative manner of T'aengniji are very distinctive and unique that can not often found in the writings of those days. Those are distinguished from perceiving compared with works of other contemporary writers who study practical sciences and focus on proofreading of geographic information. Content framework and narrative manner of T'aengniji is thought to be as progressive as 『Corea』 by Lautensach which is representative of modern Western literature of regional geographies that is about 200 years later than T'aengniji. Of course, the writer Lee Joong Hwan would had been affected no less from contemporary writings of regional geographies by many scholars who explored practical sciences and Fengshui(風水). But, the important thing is that Lee Joong Hwan had produced the new whole of writing by reconfiguring such a variety of sources through his own standpoint and diverse geographic logics. To produce a writing which links to genealogy of T'aengniji becomes a major challenge for us today.