The Master from Mountains and Fields is a fully annotated
translation of the prose texts from the “collected works” of
Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk (1489–1546), an influential Confucian scholar from
the early Chosŏn period (1392-1910). A native of Songdo (also
known as Kaesŏng) in present-day North Korea, Sŏ has loomed large
in the Korean cultural imagination and appeared as an exceptional
sage and popular hero in numerous tales, dramas, and films, yet his
writings are little known outside the academic milieu. Also called
Master Hwadam, Sŏ embodied an archetype of the secluded scholar
who remains hidden in “mountains and forests” to devote himself
to his studies. Held in esteem in both South and North Korea today
(a notable exception in contemporary studies on Chosŏn
Neo-Confucianism), Sŏ and his ideas about Vital Energy influenced
the great Korean Neo-Confucian debates of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries surrounding the psychophysiological origins
of morality as well as various non-orthodox intellectual trends in
the late Chosŏn. His thought is fundamentally rooted in the
cosmology based on the exegesis of the Book of Changes and follows
the teachings of various early Chinese Neo-Confucian thinkers; it
presents a vivid example of the eclectic nature of ideas and
intellectual trends coexisting within what is generically called
Neo-Confucianism out of convenience. This volume presents the first
English translation of all prose writings attributed to Sŏ and
most of the peritexts from his posthumously published collection
Hwadam chip. It reflects the importance of literary compilations
(munjip) in the intellectual history of Chosŏn and the complex
process of the making of Confucian masters in Korea. Sŏ’s prose
works are concise and diverse and offer a glimpse at an author who
thwarts stereotyping; an introduction and annotations provide
further context. The lengthy endnotes that accompany each text make
this a useful handbook for anybody interested in Chosŏn Korea and
Confucianism, from students in East Asian and Korean studies to
specialists in literary Chinese (hanmun) or East Asian intellectual
history.
General
Imprint: |
University of Hawaii Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Korean Classics Library: Philosophy and Religion |
Release date: |
November 2022 |
Translators: |
Isabelle Sancho
|
Authors: |
Robert E. Buswell Jr
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
304 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8248-9363-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8248-9363-8 |
Barcode: |
9780824893637 |
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