Original scientific paper
A Language for Friendship: Brush Talks and Letters Between Hong Taeyong and Han Literati
Ivana Gubić
; University of Zagreb
Abstract
This article analyzes brush talks (Kor. p'iltam 筆談, Ch. bitan) between the Chosŏn Korean scholar Hong Taeyong 洪大容 and three Han Chinese he met during his trip to Beijing in the latter half of the 18th century. After examining the mechanics of brush talks (in the absence of a common spoken language) in Literary Chinese and their inclusion in the author's collected works, the paper focuses on Hong's efforts to be accepted as an equal by his contemporaries from the Center of Civilization (Chunghwa 中華, Zhonghua). Through several encounters between the four men, Hong's positioning is traced from that of a cultivated scholar from the periphery to someone who can call his interlocutors those who know him (chigi 知己, zhiji) and expect the same in return, along with all the rights and duties of this ideal of friendship. The vicissitudes of the newly formed friendship are then examined through subsequent epistolary correspondence among the interlocutors. The paper also touches upon the questions of the (im)possibility of language, spoken or written, to achieve such knowing and the different “vernacular” identities of these individuals, despite their shared “cosmopolitan” heritage.
Keywords
Hong Taeyong; brush talks; friendship; Chunghwa; Chosŏn Dynasty; Qing Dynasty
Hrčak ID:
322258
URI
Publication date:
11.11.2024.
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