What does it mean for a story to be “vernacular?” Si Nae Park’s new book, The Korean Vernacular Story, tackles this question by examining a celebrated collection of Korean stories from the Chosŏn period, the Tongp’ae naksong (Repeatedly Recited Stories of the East) compiled by the late Chosŏn writer No Myŏnghŭm (1713–75). Although the title is celebrated for representing Chosŏn’s vernacular (read: local, Korean, non-Sinitic) culture, at first glance it seems to completely miss the mark. Instead of han’gŭl, the vernacular Korean alphabetic script, the text is in Sinitic (Chinese characters). This apparent contradiction, however, exists only because of a faulty approach to Chosŏn Korean vernacular culture, one that Park’s book aims to correct.
The significance of Park’s intervention must be understood in light of wider debates surrounding late Chosŏn linguistic and script culture. The Tongp’ae naksong, as well as the genre it belonged to, the...
