Abstract
The creation myths of Korea has the motif of 'Governor-deciding game'; the main motif is the 'blooming flowers', which SeokKa secretly robbed Miruk of the flower and is to govern this world, and consequently evils came into existence.
I summed up the aspects of creation myths in two. Firstly, Miruk/SeokKa or Taebyolwang/Sobyolwang made this world for people mellow out. Secondly, we have absurdity and evil by the roots in this world.
These are contradicted each other and coexist at the same time. Korean creation myths tell us that it is this world in which good coexist with evil in itself. In Korean Creation Myths, malicious Miruk is the very co-worker of the Creation. That explains why we have evil, absurdity, crime all the time in this world.
We see the depth of cognition which our ancestors had when they look into the man and world in itself. They saw good in evil and evil in good. It is multiphasic awareness of this world.
We also have extracted various and contradictory aspects of tricksters;(1) He is a creator and failure. (2) He stand in the liminal space and has double face. (3) He is good at tricks and transformation. (4) He is a perfect picture of avarice, sexual desire.
When we consider a trickster as a mythic archetype, it could reach as far as the mythic archetype. The order of this world and the chaos accompanied by shown in the creation myths of Korea help us understand the duplicity of the trickster type character in the history.
Our world cultivates social order through continuous creation and the creation also begets evil and disorder at the same time. It is the true picture of our world and so is the human being. That is why there are tricksters in all over the world.
As the world and society change, not fixed, so the good and order are not to be fixed. All the people who want to prepare new order of society, facing against the stiffened order and good, are the very tricksters.
I summed up the aspects of creation myths in two. Firstly, Miruk/SeokKa or Taebyolwang/Sobyolwang made this world for people mellow out. Secondly, we have absurdity and evil by the roots in this world.
These are contradicted each other and coexist at the same time. Korean creation myths tell us that it is this world in which good coexist with evil in itself. In Korean Creation Myths, malicious Miruk is the very co-worker of the Creation. That explains why we have evil, absurdity, crime all the time in this world.
We see the depth of cognition which our ancestors had when they look into the man and world in itself. They saw good in evil and evil in good. It is multiphasic awareness of this world.
We also have extracted various and contradictory aspects of tricksters;(1) He is a creator and failure. (2) He stand in the liminal space and has double face. (3) He is good at tricks and transformation. (4) He is a perfect picture of avarice, sexual desire.
When we consider a trickster as a mythic archetype, it could reach as far as the mythic archetype. The order of this world and the chaos accompanied by shown in the creation myths of Korea help us understand the duplicity of the trickster type character in the history.
Our world cultivates social order through continuous creation and the creation also begets evil and disorder at the same time. It is the true picture of our world and so is the human being. That is why there are tricksters in all over the world.
As the world and society change, not fixed, so the good and order are not to be fixed. All the people who want to prepare new order of society, facing against the stiffened order and good, are the very tricksters.
| Translated title of the contribution | Understanding Trickster through Creation Myths of Korea |
|---|---|
| Original language | Korean |
| Pages (from-to) | 101-128 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | 고전문학연구 |
| Issue number | 44 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2013 |