인물지를 통해 본 19세기 지식인의 사유방식

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of people recorded in Jinbeolhuigosokpyeon with statistical methods. The book has 1,026 people recorded in it. Judging from the percentage of people allocated to each catalog, the author showed the highest interest in people versed in poetry, calligraphy & paintings and Samgyoguryu. The author was also interested in eccentric, remarkable, and unusual people with special talent. A majority of the people recorded in the book lived in the 16th or 17th century with only six active in the 19th century. There was considerable information about people in addition to many books of people that he could consult in the second half of Joseon, but only a few people attracted his attention. In the book, 614 men had their social classes confirmed. Of them, 453(73.8%), 108(17.6%), and 53(8.6%) were from the Yangban, Jungin, and Sangcheon class, respectively. The book recorded people in the Yangban class 4.2 and 8.5 times more than people in the Jungin and Sangcheon class, respectively. Women appeared across diverse catalogs in the book. Some of them were recorded in the book for their talent in feng shui, singing, and the ability to predict a future, but most of them faithfully practiced the virtues of Confucian society including loyalty, faithfulness, chastity, fidelity, and filial piety. Many previous papers that analyzed books of people reported that the intellectuals of the times acknowledged various types of workers and changed their perceptions of chastity that forced unconditional sacrifices on women. It was also pointed out that they were different from their predecessors in that they recognized the occupational ethics and artistic values of Wihang people, but there is a need to examine if these ways of thinking shared by the intellectuals were not found in the intellectuals before 19th century. The remarkable people from the Jungin and Sangcheon class in Jinbeolhuigosokpyeon also appear in books written by intellectuals before the 19th century. It is because remarkable people naturally attract attention regardless of period and social class. This culture of records was not exclusive to the intellectuals of the 19th century. It has a strong aspect derived from the long-enduring tradition, and it is difficult to say that it was a new change. The dynamics of the 19th-century society is acknowledged, but it does not prove the modernity of the century immediately. When one tries to examine the modernity of the Korean people while being buried in the definitions of modernity sorted out based on Western society, it may rather pose an obstacle to the reconstruction of the 19th-century Korean society experienced by the ancestors.