Until the advent of the Korean alphabet (hangŭl) in the fifteenth century, Korean literature relied either on oral transmission or on the universal written language of East Asia: literary Chinese. The earliest Korean classical fiction, Kŭmo sinhwa (New Stories from Gold Turtle Mountain), was written by Kim Sisŭp (1435–1493) in Chinese. After the alphabet was promulgated, it remained chiefly the language of expression for men of the lower classes and upper-class women, while literary Chinese retained its privileged position as the language of high literature among the literati. Though the use of the alphabet did gradually percolate through most social strata, the situation did not change fundamentally until the end of the nineteenth century. Fiction written in literary Chinese occupies an important place in the history of premodern Korean fiction. In this chapter we will discover why the first Korean fiction was written in literary Chinese and why fiction in the vernacular would have a prevailing influence after the seventeenth century.

The origins and trajectories of fiction in Chinese have been diverse. They include chuanqi (tales of wonder, romances) along the line of Tang tales of wonder, biographical fiction incorporating factual biographies with narrative elements, and unofficial historical fiction written on the basis of well-known stories in the urban areas. While these stories were brief, full-length fiction appeared after the Kuun mong (Dream of Nine Clouds) at the end of the seventeenth century by Kim Manjung (1637–1692) and Ch'angsŏn kamŭi rok (Showing Goodness and Stirred by Righteousness) by Cho Sŏnggi (1638–1689), though some suggest they were originally written in Korean.