Chosun Wangjo Sillok: Past, Present, and Future

Milan Hejtmanek
Name in Latin Alphabet:	Milan Hejtmanek
Nationality:	USA
Affiliation:	Seoul National University

강연 소개

The Chosǒn wangjo sillok (Veritable Records of the Chosǒn Dynasty) sprawls across 1,707 fascicles and nearly the entire span of the Chosǒn dynasty, encompassing the reigns of twenty-five monarchs, from 1392-1863. Its contents focus largely on the affairs of the royal court and the central government, but also incorporate vast swathes of social, political, economical, and cultural topics, giving it impressive breadth. It is an indispensable source for every historian of Korea as well as a precious legacy for human history generally.

In the 20th century the fate of Sillok proved durable amidst turbulence: from a primary source for Japanese colonial historians seeking to adduce presumed Korean deficiencies and kept inaccessible to most Koreans, to a fundamental touchstone of Korean national pride under a burgeoning ethno-nationalism translated into modern Korean in dual versions by competing Korean states, and made widely accessible through electronic media. In the 21 century the Sillok has become a vehicle for globalization in the form of a newly-inaugurated English version.

This talk surveys the history of the Chosǒn wangjo sillok and looks to its future as an integral part of world history.

강연 영상

Chosun Wangjo Sillok: Past, Present and Future