18세기 후반 역사지리 인식과 유득공의 『사군지』

Abstract

Examined in this article is how the Joseon people perceived the concept of Historical Geography -and its nature as an academic area- during the reign of King Jeongjo, through Yu Deuk-gong’s Sagun-ji(四郡志) as an example. Sagun-ji(1801, or later), alongside Balhae-go(渤海考, 1784), is an extremely important achievement in the Historical Geography studies of the Joseon dynasty’s latter half. However, the reason for his authoring both Balhae-go and Sagun-ji in the first place has never been explained satisfactorily. The fact that he served as a Geomseo-gwan(檢書官) official at the Gyujanggak(奎章閣) Academy, and once traveled to the Chinese Capital at Beijing(Yeon’gyeong, 燕京), is simply not enough. He was apparently very engaged in studying Joseon’s geography and its history, yet previous studies never paid enough attention to how he distinguished ‘Examination(考, Go)’ from ‘Treatise(志, Ji)’, and those two from ‘History(史, Sa).’<BR> As he was not able to complete Balhae-go as a ‘History book,’ Yu Deukgong had to label it as an “Examination(考).” Then roughly 15 years later, he called his own writing of the Four Commanderies(四郡, Sagun) as a ‘Treatise (志).’ Compared to the level of ‘History(史),’ which intellectuals of the time were all aspiring to achieve in their works, ‘Examination(考)’ and ‘Treatise(志)’ were rather Sub-categories of ‘History,’ lacking certain qualities which would –if present- elevate them(考･志) to the level of a true History book. A publication project, however, which intended to compile a dynasty-wise Geography Manual (Jiri-ji, 地理志) launched during King Jeongjo’s reign (1788) completely changed the atmosphere, as well as certain previous notions. Jeongjo believed that Geography Manuals were also another form of ‘History(史).’ Yu Deuk-gong as well, while writing Sagun-ji, did not consider the result of his studies as some kind of inferior form of writing compared to History, as he did at the time of authoring Balhae-go. To him in this time around, unlike when he was writing Balhae-go, ‘Ji(志, Treatise)’ was just another form of ‘Sa(史, History).’ And that is why he labelled it Sagun-ji.<BR> In that sense, Jeongjo’s efforts to compile a dynasty-wise Geography Manual in the late 18th century was not an unfinished task. The direction it took indeed affected and inspired the Joseon society’s cultural atmosphere in a variety of ways, and one of the results was apparently Yu Deuk-gong’s Sagun-ji.