Vernacular fiction appeared in the seventeenth century with Hong Kiltong chŏn (Tale of Hong Kiltong) by Hŏ Kyun (1569–1618) about a century after Kim Sisŭp (1435–1493) had written New Stories from Gold Turtle Mountain. Kim Manjung's (1637–1692) Dream of Nine Clouds and Record of Lady Sa's Journey South, Cho Sŏnggi's (1638–1689) Showing Goodness and Stirred by Righteousness, and others followed between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It is still unclear whether the first and last of these three were originally written in Chinese or in Korean. One assumes that Kim and Cho wrote in Korean from the fact that they wrote for their mothers, who enjoyed reading vernacular fiction. As Kim's and Cho's works circulated in Chinese and Korean versions immediately upon completion, they acquired a vast readership.

THE FOUNDING OF VERNACULAR FICTION

Why were such works of quality, works that would influence the fiction of later generations, produced at this time? First we may cite the new social reality that obtained after the Japanese and Manchu invasions and a new literary environment: a great number of commoners, the main consumers of vernacular fiction, demanded a literary form corresponding to contemporary reality. Vernacular fiction began as the new literary activity of certain members of the ruling elite who discerned the social contradictions of late Chosŏn society and felt the need to express them.