17세기 상층여성의 국문생활에 관한 문헌적 고찰 - 여성 대상 傳狀文·碑誌文을 중심으로

Several Examples of Women's Korean Literary Lives in the 17th Century

Scarcity of materials and historical records is one of big problems in studies of women's classical literary history. This is why we need to turn a view point from 'literary history' to 'history of oral and literary lives.' The concept of 'oral and literary lives' is substituted for 'literature' which doesn't suit the purpose of explaining women's literary history. It could include not only all kinds of written materials but also oral phenomena related to women's activity, not only professional artistic works but also ordinary writing and speaking, not only creative productive activity but also literary consumption like reading books. In this viewpoint, Haengjang(行狀), records of a dead person's life, and Myojimyong(墓誌銘), a kind of epitaphs, are very important sources for studies of women's literary history. Anthologies of men writers in the upper class, who used to be social leaders as scholars or statesmen, contain many pieces of Haengjang and Myojimyong for their mother, wives, daughters and so on. I've tried to find historical records about women's literary history in them and this monography is a report of the result, especially about women's reading and writing in Hangeul. In the result, several new examples of women's Korean literary lives in the 17th century are found in the about 440 pieces of writings of 108 men writers. Because literary lives in Hangeul were parts of what we called daily lives, it is no wonder writers didn't refer to women's Korean literary lives so much. In spite of such limits, the materials were found to say about lots of informations about women's Korean literary history in the 17th century, which contained women's letters, their own wills, funeral orations, biographical writings for their mother, and their reading and translation. Writing Korean women's oral and literary history could be possible someday through building up various and many informations like these.