Eou yadam (, "Eou's Unofficial Histories") is a collection of stories by Yu Mong-in (유몽인, 1559–1623), a scholar, official and writer of the
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...
of
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
(1392-1910). The title is composed of his pen name, ''"Eou"'', and ''"yadam"'', which can be roughly translated as "unofficial histories" or "miscellaneous talks" in English.
Eou yadam was written in classical Chinese, the written lingua franca of the time. It remains five volumes in one book although ''Eou yadam'' originally consisted of 10 volumes. It is regarded the progenitor of ''yadam,'' a body of collected stories that flourished in the late Joseon period. While some of his contemporaries praised Eou Yadam as written in a lucid, and succinct literary style, Eu Yadam was never published until the late 19th century because of Yu Mong-in's unfortunate political career, which bought the capital punishment for him and his son for the rumour that they plotted against the then-reigning
King Injo
Injo of Joseon (7 December 1595 – 17 June 1649), born Yi Jong, was the sixteenth ruler of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He was the grandson of King Seonjo and son of Prince Jeongwon. He was the king during the Later Jin invasion of Joseon, ...
. Eu yadam is cited in a number of Joseon literary works by scholars such as Jang Yu (1587–1638), Yi Ik (1681–1763), Jong Yak-yong (1762–1836), etc. At least thirty different editions of Eou yadam are extant. These were used by Yu Mong-in's descendants to reconstruct Eou yadam. This version is called the Manjong-jae version. A number of manuscripts are found at libraries such as
National Library of Korea
The National Library of Korea is located in Seoul, South Korea and was established in 1945. It houses over 10 million volumes, including over 1,134,000 foreign books and some of the National Treasures of South Korea.
It was relocated within S ...
and
Kyujanggak, Seoul, South Korea.
Derivative work
*
Legend of the Blue Sea
''The Legend of the Blue Sea'' () is a 2016–2017 South Korean television series starring Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho. Inspired by a classic Joseon legend from Korea's first collection of unofficial historical tales about a fisherman who capture ...
See also
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History of Korea
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Korean literature
References
External links
『어우야담』에 나타난 상대적 사유와 언어 표현at DBPIA
History books about Korea
Joseon dynasty works
{{Korea-hist-book-stub