Tale
The Tale of Student Heo
허생전
Pak Chi-won · 1780
Synopsis
Heo Saeng lives in poverty at the foot of Mount Namsan, in Seoul, and spends his days reading while his wife sews to feed the household. One day, hungry, she reproaches him for studying without sitting the examinations or knowing how to earn a living. He closes his book, goes out, and asks the richest man in the city, a certain Byeon, for ten thousand nyang, which Byeon lends him without argument. With this sum, he trades in the fruit of Anseong, then in the horsehair of Jeju, and makes his fortune. A deserted island, brigands to be settled, and a general who comes to consult him await him next.
Context
The story is inserted in the Night Talks of the Okgap Chamber, a chapter of its author's travel journal in China, as a tale told about the origin of the wealthy Byeon's fortune; it has no title in the original. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture dates it between 1780 and 1793, the year the journal was rewritten, without ruling out a composition a few years earlier. It reads in it an attack on the slogan of the Northern Campaign against the Qing, which distracted from the kingdom's ills, and a plea for the study of Chinese techniques; Britannica places it among the tales that carry social criticism against the yangban.
Who it is for
A short tale in classical Chinese, ironic in tone; translated into English in a collection of the author's tales, not into French.
Prizes and reception
Britannica highlights its carefully crafted structure; a simplified version serves as reading for foreigners learning Korean.
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