Dafna Zur

Korean literature travel literature travel writing parody Pak Chi-wŏn Yŏrha Ilgi

Throughout the Chosŏn dynasty, tributary expeditions to China provided Korean travelers with an opportunity to explore other cultures and ways of life. Pak Chiwŏn, a Sirhak intellectual from the eighteenth century, recorded his detailed findings in his famous work “Yŏrha Ilgi.” In this work, Pak notes the ways in which exposure to China sheds light on many aspects of his own culture, including Korean society, economy, government and agriculture. Modernity has seen a great increase in the travel of Koreans overseas, particularly to China. Interestingly, many writers have chosen to follow in Pak Chiwŏn’s footsteps. Writers such as Ch’oe In-hun, Yu Kŭm-ho and Ko Mi-suk have each written their own versions of Pak’s famous expedition, seen from a modern perspective. My paper will explore their literary journeys, and analyze how and why they choose to base themselves in Pak’s famous text. Finally, my paper will comment on the way in which each “version” illuminates the ways Korean writers in the past and present comment on issues such as ‘Koreanness’ and identity when faced with the foreign “Other.”