The Story of Hong Gildong

A classic of pre-modern Korean literature (according to the Introduction, anyway). Hong Gildong is born the illegitimate son of a minister and one of his concubines (common family formation back then for elites in Korean society, or so the Introduction tells) and cannot "address [his] father as Father, [his] older brother as Brother." A youth with superlative intelligence and physical abilities, along with a noble countenance ("I saw not only the magnificent features of a grand personage without equal but also the spirit of rivers and mountains deep in his brow..."--perhaps this is one reason for the obsession with plastic surgery in Korea; one becomes not only a better commodity but also the possessor of a destiny), Hong Gildong becomes the leader of a group of bandits, being structurally excluded from holding an official position due to his illegitimate status. He lives sort of a Robin Hood-like existence, stealing from corrupt officials and distributing back to the poor, and eventually creates an ideal Confucian society on an uninhabited island. It is interesting, as the Introduction writes, that his utopian society completely replicates the society he was excluded from. Hong Gildong is not a radical by any measure.

There is nothing that resembles character development in the book. There is no extended description of the agony, the resentment, the suffering of being an illegitimate child. Near the end of the book, once Hong Gildong is able to claim legitimate status, there is more written about Hong Gildong's ritual actions toward his father and his mother (e.g. ancestor worship) than about Hong Gildong the protagonist. This may speak to a different ethical orientation: Hong Gildong, despite his numerous adventures and his individual capabilities, is not as important as an individual as he is a son and a brother in the context of the Korean family.

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