A Comparative Study Of Jiuyun 's Series Novels

Kuunmong is an outstanding novel which is written by Korean writer Kim Man-jung. Kuunmong is regarded as the beginning of Korean Dream Novels,and it’s also considered as A dream in Red Mansions, one of the most famous novels in China. Kuunmong tells about a monk named Xingzhen, and eight fairies. They are fallen to the mortal, because they yearn for the life of the mortal. Monk Xingzhen becomes Yang shao-you, and eight fairies become eight beautiful ladies. Yang shao-you is very clever since the childhood. Then he gets success in the imperial examinations, and victories in the battles for his country. In this process, he meets eight beautiful ladies, and falls in love with them. He becomes a famous minister,and marries them. But Yang shao-you and his wives are disgusted with the luxurious life, so they gave up the mortal life and return to the fairyland.This kind of Dream Novels has a great relationship with ancient Chinese literature.In the Qing Dynasty, an officer in Xisheng read this novel. He thought the story was very interesting, but the novel was not well written. He rewrote the novel, and called it Kuunlou. In the process of circulation,the name of novel became Kuunji. The story and roles in the novel are as same as in Kuunmong. Otherwise, the author of Kuunlou added many ancient Chinese novels in Kuunlou, such as Pingshanlengyan, Yujiaoli,Hejinhuiwenzhuan, which were about the stories between the intellectual and the beauty, and Nvxianwaishi, Jinghuayuan, which talked about the stories between the immortal and the ghost, and Shuihuzhuan,Shuihuhouzhuan, which were about the heros. Not having enough documents about Kuunlou, we cannot make sure of the author’s identity.In this paper, I combine Kuunmong, Kuunlou and Kuunji into a serie of Kuun Novels. I’d like to do horizontal comparison and longitudinal studies for them. I’ll try to discuss the nationality of Kuunji, to analysis how the author of Kuunji rewrote Kuunmong and their relationship with ancient Chinese novels. Finally, I’ll show the grand occasion of the cultural exchange between China and Korean in the mid-Qing dynasty.