The Story of Hong Gildong Read Free

that features a protagonist who is a secondary daughter of a nobleman. The persistent popularity of the two works lies in their ability to make the reader identify with the plight of the protagonists through an emotional identification with their frustrations and aspirations. Such feelings would have been felt all the more powerfully by the original audience of secondary and commoner status people who lived in the deeply troubled time of the twilight of the Joseon dynasty, when the established social and political hierarchy fell into severe crisis.
    The second part of
The Story of Hong Gildong
narrates the hero’s career as the leader of a band of outlaws to whom he gives the name
Hwalbindang
(league of those who help the impoverished). Scholars have regarded this section as the one that is most subversive of the Joseon dynasty order, as it can be read as exposing the corruption and the oppression of the
yangban
-ruledsociety. There is no doubt that the story features themes that are critical of the status quo, in Hong Gildong’s role as a righteous bandit who steals goods and treasures from places that hoard them, and in his acting the part of an official who punishes corrupt magistrates. Such plot elements were no doubt highly attractive to readers who had to deal with corruption and abuse of power by the authorities on a regular basis. This is in line with the archetype of the hero as a champion of the common people, avenging them of the wrongs committed by the rich and the powerful, a universal theme that is characteristic of the “noble robber” figure that can be found in many cultures around the world. 12
    The political dimensions of the narrative may reflect the frustrations of lower-status people who consumed popular fiction, but they can hardly be seen as particularly subversive or revolutionary. Reforming the policy toward secondary sons was an openly discussed topic among
yangban
officials throughout the dynasty’s history, and combating corrupt officials for the sake of the common people’s well-being was a central concern of traditional Confucian philosophy. No political or social reason is given for the raiding of the Buddhist temple of Haein, other than the presence of a great deal of treasure in the place (the
wanpan
version of the story features an explicitly anti-Buddhist passage related to the raid, but that is a later addition to the text). In fact, in his communications with the King of Joseon, Hong Gildong makes it clear that he had to resort to outlawry because he could not work within the established order as a righteous government official. This shows that his discontentment lies in his inability to participate in the political system of the status quo, not in his ideological antipathy toward its nature. This is a far cry from a revolutionary who wants to overthrow the entire order and replace it with an egalitarian one, as both the fictional hero and his purported creator have so often been depicted in the modern era.
    The third part of the story indulges in ever more fantastic adventures. Though the hero’s great exploits in foreign lands openup a space outside of traditional Joseon society, the narrative becomes more supportive, rather than subversive, of the status quo. The realms he builds on the islands of Jae and Yul have been described as utopias by many critics, some going so far as to suggest that they reflect the egalitarian state that the purported author Heo Gyun dreamed of building in Joseon. Yet a close reading of the text makes such an interpretation highly problematic.
    Ever since Thomas More coined the word “utopia” in the sixteenth century, from Greek root words meaning “no place,” it has come to signify not just an optimally functioning society but also one that has achieved such a state through a novel and imaginative arrangement of its community that is different from ones that exist in the world. Due to the influence of Kim