The term yadam 野談, not used elsewhere in East Asia, refers to short stories collected and often edited by the literati of late Chosŏn. They are amusing to read, but studying them requires strenuous research, inevitably involving the daunting task of collating numerous manuscripts spread around here and there. Si Nae Park has undertaken this meticulous work. She advances an argument for a new Korean vernacularization of Literary Sinitic by using as a case study the Tongp'ae naksong (Repeatedly Recited Stories of the East, hereafter Recited Stories), a yadam collection compiled by No Myŏnghŭm (1713–75).
The Korean Vernacular Story consists of four chapters, an introduction, and a coda. The first two chapters situate No Myŏnghŭm in the fabric of the cultural epicenter of contemporary Chosŏn—that is, the capital city Seoul. Chapter 1, “The Compiler,” draws on historical sources to reconstruct No's life, with attention to his relocation...
