“Hongjungnae-jeon” as a 19th Century History Imagined by the First Generation Korean American
Authors:   The Society Of Korean Literature, Hwang Jae-moon 
Published: December 2024

“Hongjungnae-jeon” is a full-length classical novel written in the 1920s by Nakchung Thun, a first-generation Korean American writer. This novel depicts Korean history from the end of Hong Gyeongnae’s rebellion to right after the Gapsin Coup, but this history is quite different from the actual history. Because it is an imagined history based on the assumptions that “if Hong Gyeongnae had not died” and “if an organization was created to succeed Hong Gyeongnae’s will,” it does not have the same characteristics as the history depicted in the same period. The way in which 19th century history is reimagined in “Hongjungnae-jeon” can be approached as follows.
First, the character setting and arrangement. Since Hong Gyeongnae left Joseon after the failure of the rebellion and indirectly became involved in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China, it was inevitable that there would be characters from the generation after Hong Gyeongnae who would lead the main narrative of the work. In “Hongjungnae-jeon,” in addition to Hong Jungnae, various characters with unique personalities who assisted him were introduced among the people of the northwest, and characters who could represent the social contradictions of Chungcheong Province were also introduced. The fact that fictional characters from Chungcheong Province were introduced as main characters is particularly noteworthy, as it is an aspect not seen in the previous work “Hongkyeongnae-Jeon.” Many of the grand officials of Seoul were real people, but sometimes their careers were changed. Another characteristic is that women who were introduced as more active characters than men. In particular, Ok Pirae, who was called the ‘Hero in the red skirt’, is noteworthy as a new character type. Second, the reconstruction of history. Since “Hongjungnae-jeon” is a work composed based on two assumptions, the history in the novel cannot help but be composed in two directions: the story of Hong Gyeongnae’s later days and the story of the reformist group succeeding Hong Gyeongnae. The story of Hong Gyeongnae can be summarized as the attempt to establish a base for the second rebellion across the Amnok River but failure due to a storm, and the eventual failure to took Seok Dal-gae, a key figure in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China, as his disciple and now spending his old age. The story of Hong Jungnae’s group is composed in the order of the plan to gather talented people, utilize influential people with the will to reform, and the plan to use force. The third is the reinterpretation of actual historical events and their use in imagined history. In addition to historical events in Joseon such as the rebellions after Hong Gyeongnae, the Byeongin Yangyo, the Shinmi Yangyo, and the Ganghwa Treaty, it also utilizes foreign historical events such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and diplomatic issues between Joseon and Qing, and sometimes attempts a considerable amount of transformation. “Hongjungnae-jeon,” which is completed as an imagined history, is understood to have a different process from the official history but the same result, which can be interpreted as a historical novel that partially has the characteristics of premodern ‘Yeon-ui(演義)’ and modern ‘alternate history.’