〈홍길동전〉에 나타난 《서유기》 서사 양식 고찰

The Similarities of “The Tale of Hong Kil‐tong” and Journey to the West in terms of Narrative Structures

The similarities between “The Tale of Hong Kil-tong” and Water Margin in terms of their narrative structures have been a popular topic among scholars of Korea literature. However, the similarities between “The Tale of Hong Kil-tong” and Journey to the West in terms of their narrative structures have been largely neglected. This essay focuses on these similarities as an attempt to clarify the seemingly redundant latter half of “The Tale of Hong Kil-tong”, where Kil-tong continues to pursue a series of adventures that do not add up in terms of the story plot even after fulfilling his lifelong dream of being appointed as Minister of War. In this respect, the unfolding of the narrative in “The Tale of Hong Kil-tong” that resembles Journey to the West can be an example disclosing Hŏ Kyun’s attempt to emulate clichés in terms of the story plots in premodern Chinese fictional narratives.