<초혼사>의 구조와 애도문학적 특성

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the structure, meaning and characteristics of Chohonsa, one of the six pieces of Gasa written by Lee, Un-yeong in the 18th century of the Joseon Dynasty. In Chohonsa the narrator presents his condolences to the seven hundred righteous persons who gave their lives for protecting the invasion of Japan in the end of the 16th century. Chohonsa consists of eight paragraphs. Each paragraph is composed of the refrain to call the souls of dead persons, and the narration of solace, praise and grief. The paragraphs of Chohonsa are organized systematically. That is to say, the narrator calls the souls of seven hundred righteous persons in the first paragraph, and communicates the words of solace, praise and grief to them in middle paragraphs, and then presents the motive of writing Chohonsa in final paragraph. By the way the refrain of Chohonsa can be found in the songs sung by shamans. And the contents and narrative methods of condolences in Chohonsa can be found in the funeral orations and odes written in classical Chinese. So It is obvious that Chohonsa was written through harmonizing the distinctive characters of the different genres in condolatory literature, namely the shaman song, and the funeral oration and ode written in classical Chinese. I anticipate that this study can contribute to ascertain the natures of Lee, Un-yeong's works and the aspects of Gasa in the 18th century of the Joseon Dynasty.