[Article] A Bold Hypothesis and a Timid Verification: On Reading Lim Hyung-taek’s Theories of East Asian Narratives and the History of Korean Fiction / Choi Won-sik
The Quarterly Changbi 198, Winter 2022
Abstract
Literary critic Choi Won-sik presents a careful reading of and lucid commentary on Lim Hyung-taek’s masterpiece Theories of East Asian Narratives and the History of Korean Fiction. Readers with a deep interest in the history of Korean fiction will find it to be an essential article, to be read together with Lim Hyung-taek’s book, to understand the evolution of Korean literature. Above all, Choi appreciates how Lim re-established the status of such a classic as the 15th century short-story collection Geumo Sinhwa and the gyubang munhak (“literature about women’s lives”) Gu-unmong (“The Cloud Dream of the Nine”), and how he overviews the history of Korean fiction through the concept of iyagiggun (“storyteller”). Further, while deeply sympathizing with the author’s effort to understand Korean literature without separating it into categories of classical and modern literature, Choi comparatively discusses Lim’s views on novels by Hong Myong-hui, Choe Nam-seon, Yi Gwangsu, and Yeom Sang-seop along with his own. His acumen stands out as he examines this unrivaled masterpiece by an author interpreting the process of changes in narrative modes in Korea and East Asia.