Seopo Literature Museum

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Seopo Literature Museum. Seopo is the pen name of Gim Man-jung (1637–1692) who was a Korean novelist and politician of the mid-Joseon period. He was an eminent Neo-Confucian scholar of the Joseon period. Nodo is the island where Gim Man-jung was twice exiled.

A member of the yangban class, Gim passed the state civil service examination and rose through the official ranks to become a royal academic counselor and minister during the reign of King Sukjong. He was exiled twice to Nodo for involvement in the political factionalism of the time.

As a man of letters his most renowned works were the novels Sassinamjeonggi ("Record of Lady Sa's Trip to the South"), a novel about family affairs set in China is also a satirical depiction of the political reality of his day, and in particular a rebuke of King Sukjong.

The Nine Cloud Dream, Guunmong, ("The Cloud Dream of the Nine") is one of the most prominent novels of traditional Korea. It is said that Gim wrote the Guunmong during his second exile from political life on Nodo. It is an ideal novel dealing with the affairs of life and is centered on the travails of the hero. It has a highly Buddhist overtone, with an emphasis on the transience of worldly glory and pleasure.

Seopo, Gim Man-jung, also wrote ‘Sassinamjeonggi’, ‘Seopomanpil’, ‘Jobijeonggyeongbuinhaenghang’, ‘Jujachanyo’ and also left numerous Chinese poems.