Virtuous Women: Three Classic Korean Novels

by Richard Rutt (translator)

A nine cloud dream / Kim Man-jung
The true history of Queen Inhyŏn
The song of a faithful wife, Ch'un-hyang

Genres: Literature

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Cecil Richard Rutt CBE, was an English Roman Catholic priest and a former Anglican bishop.

Rutt spent almost 20 years of his life serving as an Anglican missionary in South Korea, a country for which he developed a deep affection. He was perhaps the last of the line of scholar-missionaries, beginning with James Scarth Gale, Homer B. Hulbert, George Heber Jones and the Anglican bishop Mark Napier Trollope who laid the foundations of what is now known as Korean studies. Some years after he retired as an Anglican bishop, Rutt was one of several Anglicans received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1994. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest the following year and spent the closing years of his life in Cornwall.

Reviews

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Richard Rutt's translation of three seventeenth century works from Korea, Kim Man-Jung's A Nine Cloud Dream, and the anonymous Queen Inhyun and Chun-hyang. After I read the Nine Cloud Dream in the 1922 Gale translation in August for a Goodreads group, I mentioned in my review that there was a newer version which would be available next year. One of the other members pointed out that there was a third version translated by by Rutt which was available as an e-book on Google play, and that is this book (I had seen a mention of it on Amazon but there it was out of print). I won't repeat my review of A Nine Cloud Dream since I read it so recently, except to say that whether it was a better translation, the more complete introduction, or the fact that I was reading it for the second time, I got more out of it this time, especially with respect to the conflict of the three religions, Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. I also learned from the introduction that the original was probably written in Chinese, or at any rate all the existing Korean versions seem to be translations of the Chinese version. The Gale translation was in fact based on a Chinese not a Korean version (that isn't mentioned in the introduction to that as far as I can remember) and this was based partly on an older (but more recently discovered) Chinese version with some input from the Korean versions.

The second and shortest of the three works here, Queen Inhyun, is a historical novel, the most literary of several versions of a story that is based on a real queen of the early seventeenth century who was deposed in favor of a favorite concubine but later recalled to the throne. The introduction explains that this was based on a factional struggle between two parties of the aristocracy from different areas of the country, but in the novel it is all personal.

The third work, called Chun-hyang (Spring Fragrance) after the name of the main character (and also known as "the constant wife"), exists in many different versions as well, seemingly all based on an oral tradition; it has also been adapted for operas, films, and many other formats. It is a folklore-type story about a newly married wife who is left alone, tortured by a lust-filled governor, and eventually rescued by the return of her husband. It is also set in the early seventeenth century.

All three novels taken together give a good sample of classic Korean literature and some insight into the mores of the period.

[Earl Grey Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was the first time that I have read Korean literature despite living here for over six years. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve quite a lot of older works or that the translator did a good job, but I was able to read these three stories quite easily. I found that writing style was similar to that of the Three Kingdoms, which is a major influence in Korea.

Before each story, there was an introduction that explained some basic concepts that Westerner readers might not be that familiar with. After reading lots of books on Korean history and customs, I had very few problems understanding what the introduction and the actual story was talking about. There were quite a few allusions to Chinese and Korean literary works and history that I don’t know much about. However, given the context, I could figure things out like Li Po was a famous Chinese poet.

The theme for all three of these stories was the portrayal of Korean women during the Kingdom of Joseon. I think modern western feminist would have a hard reading this book since each of the stories reinforce the notion that an ideal woman is one who puts her own well-being and goals behind that of supporting her husband. In addition to that, a model woman was to follow social norms and rituals to her utmost. Despite disagreeing completely with this point of view, the book does offer an excellent cultural study of Korean history and the way people thought.

Another thing that was a bit surprising was the amount of sexuality in two of the stories. Korea is quite conservative, and the topic of sex never seems to be something that is openly discussed in modern society or seen on TV. In this book, there were quite a few scenes that involved sex, though they weren’t very explicit in detail.

Overall, it was an interesting read and it helps me understand Korean society a bit better. When I mentioned what I was reading to my Korean friends, they knew these stories quite well.

[Ocean G]

My review of A Nine Cloud Dream here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Queen Inhyon was a good story, although to be honest she seemed much too overly obstinate, even considering the time, place and circumstances.

Ch'un-Hyang was a good, entertaining story, although the trickery at the end seemed excessive.

Still, it's sort of annoying that the women in these stories seem to have no agency, and all decisions need to be made by the man. The only moral for the women is that if they are obedient and chaste, good things will happen to them.

[Malachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird to give a star rating to a collection of novels (“novels”) from the 1600s or so, but whatever. The translation was a bit clunky but fairly effective. The nine cloud dream was… actually good. Like, as a book, it was interesting. Queen Inhyon and Chun-hyang are historically interesting (the sex games in Chun-hyang are quite unexpected) particularly if you’ve ever seen like, a single historical k drama. Highly recommend!