全州 李氏의 <바날졔문이라> 小考

Abstract

<Banaljyemunira>, a jechimmun (funeral oration of mourning the loss of a broken needle) written in the Korean language by Lady Lee (of the Jeonju Lee Family), is handed down as a private collection of the late Prof. Nageun Kang Jeon-seop. Only a few jechimmuns including <Jochimmun> of Mrs. Yu are currently known in the Korean literature circles. Fortunately, <Banaljyemunira> has been preserved intact in Nageunmungo and its original text is still legible. Although it is difficult to study details of the writer's life, it was found that the writer was an emotional person with outstanding writing skills. Considering her funeral oration for mourning the loss of a broken needle, She must have had an attachment to her possessions, even small objects. She left this funeral oration based on her literary sensitivity, but there are no other works or materials which can be used for studying her life. The motive of this funeral oration is considered to be from manifestation of her femininity, because women's emotions including a relation between a woman and needle can't be easily sympathized with men. As mentioned in the funeral oration, the writer received a needle from her mother and was told to cherish it, one year before she wrote this jechimmun. When she unfortunately broke it, she appreciated the service of the needle she had cherished and used to make clothes for one year and grieved for the loss of the needle due to her carelessness. It was known that she wrote this funeral oration to express her regret over the loss of the needle. She didn't write this literary work by developing empathy with the unfortunateness of the needle for her misfortunes but recorded her feelings as a personification essay, grieving the loss of her precious needle and personifying an inanimate object. She expressed the contents of the jechimmun by personifying the needle and expressing a series of events including the encounter, loss, and farewell (a funeral for a soul) with it touchingly. Her memories with the needle represented in every single word reminds of the pure love (writing about giving one's life for love), beyond condolences for the loss of an ordinary object. Lady Lee's <Banaljyemunira> is the first jechimmun found after Lady Yu's <Jochimmun> became known. This literary work gave a great chance to shed new light on jechimmuns of women of the Joseon Dynasty period based on their delicate sensitivities, elegant writing styles, and personification techniques. Therefore, in addition to <Jochimmun> of Lady Yu, this literary work can be highly regarded as one of novel works among Korean women's classical essays.