『매천야록』의 사료적 가치의 재검토

The Review of Historical Value of Maecheon’yarok(梅泉野錄)

The Maecheon’yarok(梅泉野錄), written by Hwang Hyeon(黃玹) who watched the destruction Korean Empire, is a written testimony of that time. It is an important work for the study of Korean modern history together with Kim Yoon-Sik’ Umcheongsa(陰晴史), Sequel Umcheongsa(續陰晴史) and Jung Gyo’s Daehan’ gyenyeonsa(大韓季年史). So, it has been translated and studied by not a few persons. How did he write the work? how did he collect historical materials in writing the work? Why did he have to write it? What did he intend to show the descendants? What made it the best contemporary work. These questions can be given to him. Hwang Hyeon had been grown up under teaching of confucianism, but many incidents had been happening in 1894, for example Donghak peasantry movement, First Sino-Japanese War, Gabo Reform, and so on. He began to look himself, his mother country and the world with new viewpoint, and found the best way to record the contemporary history. The results were Oha’gimun(梧下紀聞) and Maecheon’yarok.