The Joseon Dynasty was surrounded by impenetrable walls of discrimination based on social status. The social class bestowed on one at birth was a shackle from which it was impossible to escape until death. In addition, writing and literature were exclusively for men and not easily allowed to women, who could at best hope to be recognized as assistants to their male counterparts. However, the desire to create literature could not be so easily suppressed. As class and gender discrimination intensified in the feudal society of that era, more and more people raised their voices in protest.

Hwang Jini, the most well-known Kisaeng, found freedom in her work, now collected in Songs of the Kisaeng. In The Nine Cloud Dream, author Kim Man-Jung depicts the torment brought on by the inability to achieve an ideal life in the typical aristocratic society during the mid-Joseon period. Writer Heo Kyun, in his The Story of Hong Gildong, discusses the universal value of human dignity and equality against the issues of society at that time, such as discrimination based on social classes. The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng, written by the wife of Crown Prince Sado, Lady Hyegyŏng, offers a valuable glimpse into the lives of women during the Joseon Dynasty and the political climate of that time. Meanwhile, Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn’s poetry collection, Vision of a Phoenix, was a resistance against the customs and an attempt to protect her life through her writings, while at the same time lending a voice to women who longed for freedom and equality.

Centuries may have passed since then, but the reason why such works continue to receive the highest praises is that they provide comfort and wisdom to the outcasts of our time. Times may change, but the power of writing is everlasting.

ㅣCollection of sijo Songs of the Kisaeng [English]

Author Hwang Jini
Translator Contogenis Constantie, Choe Wol-Hee
Publisher BOAs
Year Published 1997
Originally written during the mid-Joseon period

In Joseon society, a society bound by countless rules, what kind of lives did women, considered lower subjects, lead? Moreover, what about the  Kisaeng, who belonged to the lowest of classes? Songs of the Kisaeng is a collection of works from Hwang Jini, the most famous of Kisaeng at the time. Despite their short form, sijo are poems that are rich in literary and artistic ideas. In her writing, Hwang Jini pursues love, art, and freedom, uncuffing herself from the shackles of her low status.

ㅣNovel The Nine Cloud Dream [English]

Author Kim Man-Jung
Translators Heinz Insu Fenkl
Publisher Penguin Classics
Year Published 2019
Originally written in 1687

The Nine Cloud Dream was written by Kim Man-Jung, a literate and novelist of the mid-to-late Joseon dynasty, for his widowed mother. His writing teaches important lessons and impresses the reader with its themes, clear sentences, and use of metaphors. Through the dream of the main character, the author illustrates the fleetingness and transience of life, and the futility of wealth and honor. The story also depicts the struggles in seeking the timeless philosophical values of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism reflected in the aristocratic society of that time.

ㅣNovel The Story of Hong Gildong [English]

Author Heo Kyun
Translators Minsoo Kang
Publisher Penguin Publishing Group
Year Published 2016
Originally written during the mid-Joseon period

Hailed as the first Korean novel, this story depicts the problems that were plaguing society at that time in a concrete and realistic way. Author Heo Kyun, a free-spirited thinker, was a reformer four hundred years ahead of his time. Through the figure of the hero, Hong Gildong, born an illegitimate son, Heo called for the abolition of the discriminatory system that demarcates legitimate and illegitimate children, while proposing civil ideologies, a meritocratic appointment system, and the strengthening of the army.

ㅣMemoirs The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng[English]

Author Lady Hyegyŏng
Translators JaHyun Kim Haboush
Publisher University of California Press
Year Published 1996 
Originally written in1795 

Mother of King Jeongjo and wife of Crown Prince Sado, Lady Hyegyŏng of the Pungsan Hong clan wrote this memoir from the perspective of someone who had closely witnessed the death of her husband caused by his own father, King Yeongjo. The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng contains many episodes of her life, some written calmly, some with desperate sadness, and others with a critical and passionate retrospection. This book allows us a glimpse at the hidden lives of Joseon women in the royal court.

ㅣCollection of sijo Vision of a Phoenix [English]

Author Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn
Translator Yang Hi Choe-Wall
Publisher Cornell Univ. East Asia Program
Year Published 2003
Originally written in 1608

Even if they were born into noble families during the Joseon dynasty, women were not free to showcase their abilities because of the limited social status they were bound to.Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn

also led a similar life. However, through her remarkable writings, she attempted to escape the prison that was her feudal society. Vision of a Phoenix contains the literary and artistic reflections she wrote until she died at the young age of twenty-seven.

Lee Misuk

Culture columnist and free contributor in a variety of fields such as culture, trends, celebrity interviews, travel, finance. She writes for more than fifty local companies and organizations.