��???��? ??? ?? ?? (A Study on the Nature and Author Issues of Sosurok)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the literature nature and writer issues of Sosurok, which is a sort of collection of literary works about gisaengs including stories depicting the life of a gisaeng, letters containing the psychological battle of subtle love between gisaengs and their clients, ardent love Shijos describing longing for loved ones endlessly, and arguments proudly affirming the existence of gibangs and gisaengs. The readers of the collection are thus estimated to have been gisaengs. It is considered as a good source to understand the consciousness of gisaengs that lived in the middle and late 19th century. But one cannot help wondering if its authors must have been gisaengs just because its stories were about them and if it has the nature of Gasa collection as maintained in previous studies.
In an effort to answer those questions, the present study first closely examined the basic composition and major content of the collection and found that it should be defined as "miscellaneous records" about gisaengs since its composition system was closer to that of "Sechaekbon" than Gasa collection. The analysis results of 14 pieces and their content show that they were created by a single author that was engrossed in reading love stories about gisaengs in that he or she used the same authentic precedents regarding gisaengs, mentioned the main characters of love stories in many different works, and had certain favorite language habits in the creation of Shijo.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the literature nature and writer issues of Sosurok, which is a sort of collection of literary works about gisaengs including stories depicting the life of a gisaeng, letters containing the psychological battle of subtle love between gisaengs and their clients, ardent love Shijos describing longing for loved ones endlessly, and arguments proudly affirming the existence of gibangs and gisaengs. The readers of the collection are thus estimated to have been gisaengs. It is considered as a good source to understand the consciousness of gisaengs that lived in the middle and late 19th century. But one cannot help wondering if its authors must have been gisaengs just because its stories were about them and if it has the nature of Gasa collection as maintained in previous studies.
In an effort to answer those questions, the present study first closely examined the basic composition and major content of the collection and found that it should be defined as "miscellaneous records" about gisaengs since its composition system was closer to that of "Sechaekbon" than Gasa collection. The analysis results of 14 pieces and their content show that they were created by a single author that was engrossed in reading love stories about gisaengs in that he or she used the same authentic precedents regarding gisaengs, mentioned the main characters of love stories in many different works, and had certain favorite language habits in the creation of Shijo.