Kuunmong: The Cloud Dream of the Nine
Kim Manjung was a product of Korean yangban (‘two orders’) culture: a system based on Chinese models, which required even elite members of society to pass civil service examinations. At first, Kim proved a success in this system: he rose rapidly through the social ranks, placed at the top of the state examinations when he was twenty-eight, and attained a high position at court. But reversals of fortune followed on his success, and Kim was often forced into political exile. He wrote Kuunmong during one such period, in 1687. Five years later, he died, at the age of fifty-five. He meant his novel to be a private act of protest, and a consolation for his family. In the centuries that followed its author’s death, Kuunmong has gone on to attain lasting fame.