''Ŏu yadam'' () is a collection of stories by Yu Mongin (, 1559–1623), a Korean scholar-official of the
Joseon
Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...
period. The title is composed of his
art name
An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...
, ''Ŏu'', and ''yadam'', which can be roughly translated as "unofficial histories" or "miscellaneous talks" in English.
''Ŏu yadam'' was written in classical Chinese, the written lingua franca of the time. It remains five volumes in one book although ''Ŏu 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 ''Ŏu 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. 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 ''Ŏu yadam'' are extant. These were used by Yu Mongin's descendants to reconstruct ''Ŏu yadam''. This version is called the Manjongjae version. A number of manuscripts are found at libraries such as
National Library of Korea and
Kyujanggak, Seoul, South Korea.
Derivative work
*
Legend of the Blue Sea
See also
*
History of Korea
The Lower Paleolithic era on the Korean Peninsula and in Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago.
Christopher J. Norton, "The Current State of Korean Paleoanthropology", (2000), ''Journal of Human Evolution'', 38: 803–825.
The earl ...
*
Korean literature
References
External links
『어우야담』에 나타난 상대적 사유와 언어 표현at DBPIA
History books about Korea
Works by Joseon people
{{Korea-hist-book-stub