중국 설화의 수용과 문학적 상상력 - <양산백과 축영대> 관련 작품을 중심으로

Abstract

The story of The Butterfly Lovers, which is one of the China’s Four Great Folktales, has been narrated in China in various literary forms, such as tales, novels, plays, and even music the preference of which depends on the epoch and the region. After its introduction in Korea during the Goryeo era, the story of The Butterfly Lovers was used in a variety of ways as it went through many genre variations, from narrative literary forms such as tales, novels, or myths, to narrative folk songs. This paper examines the different aspects of these genres which were infused with literary imaginativeness and creatively transformed after the Chinese Butterfly Lovers folktale was assimilated into the Korean culture. In other words, as this paper looks into the Korean prototypes in the assimilation-transformation process that produced under the same title of The Butterfly Lovers a wide range of literary forms, the discussion also addresses the identity of each forms that is distinguished according to its genre and disparate factors such as the level of responsibility and assimilation, the time period, and the usage of the genre. The interest and taste of the public as well as the varied thematic consciousness can be defined as the common features which appear in the assimilation process of the Chinese Folktale The Butterfly Lovers. After the story was assimilated into the Korean culture, the transmission group, the level of enjoyment, and the differences between genres can be accounted factors in its various transformations.