岐山(朴憲鳳)本 「香郞新說」에 대하여

On Kisan s Version of The Ch unhyang-jon

Altogether there are some twenty versions of the Ch’unhyang-jon, some printed, some copied. Though all carry the same plot, there are considerable differences in detail from version to version. This goes to prove that what were originally lyrics for p’anssori, or a narrative performance in which the kwangdae (actor) sang his story, have been preserved in writing. Kisan s version of the Ch’unhyang-jon (named after the penname of the owner Pak Hon-bong) is in florid Chinese. Inquiry shows that this version is not an original work in Chinese but a version of p’anssori that has subsequently been committed to writing. Thus, the widely held theory that the Ch’unhyang-jon was originally a Chinese text has again been disproved, and the pattern of development-from folk tradition through p’anssori to romance remains undisputed.