ABSTRACT
The author of The Tale of Hong Kiltong, Ho Kyun, was no stranger to how birth order and politics entwine in ancient Korea. His story was inspired by Outlaws of the Marsh, the late fourteenth-century Chinese novel. Like Sung Chiang and his band of outlaws, Hong Kiltong wants to rectify discrimination, but only for himself. He tries to correct social problems but does not repudiate the nobility and Confucian social stratification in general. This chapter can be said therefore to be somewhat autobiographical, even though not written in the first person. During the reign of King Sejong in Choson there was a minister whose name was Hong. Scion of a long-established and illustrious family, he passed the civil examinations at an early age and went on to attain the post of Minister of Personnel. The chapter describes the portrait of a scholar-official in a black robe, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk.
