Hero’s Journey in Korean Confucian Historiography: Biographies of Kim Yusin and Kungye in the Context of J . Campbell’s Monomyth

For the first time in Russian (and world) Korean studies, biographies of real historical characters are analyzed within the framework of the concept of monomyth (or hero's journey) coined by Joseph Campbell. Previously, such an approach was practiced only in the study of narrative prose. This paper focuses on practical evaluation of monomyth as a prism with regard to Confucian chronicles. Critical analysis of the text showed us to conclude that the concept of monomyth is quite suitable — with some reservations — for describing the historical narrative of the biographical section of the Confucian chronicle Samguk sagi (Historical Record of the Three Kingdoms). The research revealed life paths of the chosen hero, who embodies the ideal of a loyal subject, and his antagonist generally follow the three-part model proposed by Campbell (departure — initiation — return). This allows us to conclude that a powerful autochthonous Korean cultural stratum contributed to the formation of a specific syncretic worldview in Korea during the Three States and United Silla period (traditional dates: 1st century B.C. — 10th century A.D.), which integrated Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism into a single system and was reflected in the official chronicle compiled in the 12th century. The Confucian historiographer's representation of these substrates (given a certain ability of these teachings to assimilate each other's concepts) was cemented by myth, which, together with the Confucian canon, set the principles of text organization, plot models, and ways of presenting historical events. The susceptibility of Korean Confucianism at this historical stage to mythology allowed mythological cosmology to integrate quite easily into the Confucian world-building narrative, and to deal with subjects that were previously considered taboo for Confucian ethics in classical Orientalism, such as the manifestations of the Oedipus complex. The interpretation of history as a moral and ethical drama brings official Confucian historiography closer to political myth in its modern interpretation and allows us to evaluate the historical text in a new way.

1. Asmolov, K. V., Solovyov, A. V. and Lebedev, V. V. (2022) ‘Elements of the Pre-Modernism, Modernism and Postmodernism in the Political Myth of the DPRK: A Constructivist Take’, in Modernization of Korea: Politics, Economy, Society, Culture. Moscow: VCIOM Publ., pp. 116–139. (In Russian).

2. Bottici, C. (2007) A Philosophy of Political Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi. org/10.1017/CBO9780511498626

3. Campbell, J. (2008) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Novato: New World Library. (Russ. ed.: (2023) Tysyachelikii geroi. Saint Petersburg: Piter Publ.).

4. Dundes, A. (2005) ‘Folkloristics in the Twenty-First Century (AFS Invited Presidential Plenary Address, 2004)’, Journal of American Folklore, 118(470), pp. 385–408. https://doi.org/10.1353/jaf.2005.0044

5. Grayson, J. H. (2012) Myths and Legends from Korea. London: Routledge. https://doi. org/10.4324/9780203358382

6. Gu, M. D. (2006) ‘The Filial Piety Complex: Variations on the Oedipus Theme in Chinese Literature and Culture’, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 75(1), pp. 163–195. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2167-4086.2006. tb00036.x

7. Keung, L. Y. (2002) ‘Wandering and Imaginal Realms in the Analects and Zhuangzi’, Monumenta Serica, 50(1), pp. 75–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02549948.2002.11731373

8. Kim, T.-G. (2004) ‘Goongyae and Sedal Temple’, Journal of Korean Association of Art History Education, (75), pp. 57–92. (In Korean).

9. Konrad, N. N. (1977) Izbrannye Trudy. Sinologiya [Selected Works. Synology]. Moscow: Nauka Publ. (In Russian).

10. Lukyanov, A. E. (2014) ‘Shi Jing: Poetical and Philosophical Archetype’, Peoples and cultures of the orient. Researches and translations, 1(4), pp. 109–130. (In Russian).

11. McBride, R. D. (1998) ‘Hidden Agendas in the Life Writings of Kim Yusin’, Acta Koreana, 1, pp. 101–142. McBride, R. D. (2013) ‘The Structure and Sources of the Biography of Kim Yusin’, Acta Koreana, 16(2), pp. 497–535. https://doi.org/10.18399/acta.2013.16.2.008

12. Meletinsky, E. M. (1995) Poetika mifa [Poetics of the Myth]. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura Publ. (In Russian).

13. Na, S., You, J. and Shin, J. (2018) ‘Chapter 41, 42, and 43 of the Samguk sagi: An Annotated Translation of Biography of Kim Yusin’, The Review of Korean Studies, 21(1), pp. 191–262.

14. Nikitina, M. I. (1982) Drevnyaya koreiskaya poeziya v svazi s ritualom i mifom [Ancient Korean poetry in relation to ritual and myth]. Moscow: GRVL Publ. (In Russian).

15. Nikitina, M. I. (2001) Mif o zhenstchine-solntse i ee roditelyah i ego “sputniki” v ritualnoi traditsii drevnei Korei i sosednih stran [The myth of the sun-woman and her parents and its ‘companions’ in the ritual tradition of ancient Korea and neighboring countries]. Saint Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie Publ. (In Russian).

16. Sato, M. (2007) ‘6. The Archetype of History in the Confucian Ecumene’, History and Theory, 46(2), pp. 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2303.2007.00403.x

17. Solovyov, A. V. (2001) ‘Biographies in Samguk Sagi. Literature vs. History?’, in History, Language and Culture in Korea. Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the Association of Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE) (Comp. by Youngsook Pak and Jaehoon Yeon). London: Saffron Books (Eastern Art Publishing), pp. 15–20.

18. Solovyov, A. V. (2023) ‘Russian orientalism vs. Korean positivism: reflections on the translation of biographies (Yŏlchŏn) from the Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk Sagi) into English’, Orientalistica, 6(1), pp. 119–142. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.31696/2618-7043-2023-6-1-119-142

19. Solovyov, A. V. (2023) ‘Games Played by the Khwarangs: Cathegory You (遊) and Her Interpretations in “Samguk Sagi” by Kim Busik’, The journal of direction and development of Korean studies in Russia, 4(2), pp. 73–84. (In Russian).

20. Tikhonov, V. M. (1995) ‘Samguk sagi yeoljeon Kim Yusin joga naepohaneun uiui” [Significance of the Biography of Kim Yusin]’, Ihwasahak yeongu, (22), pp. 225–258. (In Korean).

21. Trotsevich, A. F. (1996) Mif i syuzhetnaya proza Korei [Myth and Narrative Prose of Korea]. Saint Petersburg: Center Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ. (In Russian).

22. Trotsevich, A. F. (2004) ‘Funktsii «puteshestviya geroya» v koreyskoy syuzhetnoy proze [Functions of travel of a hero in Korean narrative prose]’, Proceedings of the Center for Korean Language and Culture, (7), pp. 11–20. (In Russian).

23. Tsoy, I. (2021) ‘The path of the hero (antihero) in contemporary korean prose of the 20 early 21 century (in comparison with traditional literature)’, in The current problems of the Korean peninsula. Moscow: IDV RAN Publ., pp. 264–275. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.48647/IFES.2021.27.41.026

24. White, H. (1987) The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.