운영전의 삼각관계와 숨김의 미학

Abstract

Why did the author of Unyeong-jeon, one of the Korean classical novels which have been written at early 17C, made the work to have complex narrative structure and mixed viewpoints? Why doesn't Anpyeong-daegun who, as a royal prince, plays important role in the love triangle of the work show himself on the stage? Why does Unyeong, the heroine of the work who is a court maid, take a fair attitude to her master in spite of her illicit love? Why do the characters of the work mostly remain to themselves in concealment? This paper attempts to answer these questions. I investigated the piling up of the narrative structures and the characters' nature and the alternation Anpyeong-daegun with Teuk who is a servant belonging to Kim-jinsa, the hero of the work. I also observed the fact that the author tries to defend the peoples' pure desire from the medieval repression. And then I came to conclude that Unyeong-jeon is the work which shows the inner world of the recluse. The attractiveness of the work is derived from the tense consciousness between chastity for the master and pure desire for the lover. On this view, Unyeong-jeon is aesthetically high-level work both in form and contents. The author may have been an aesthete who turned his back on the world and addicted himself to few persons, materials, writings which were near him.