This paper aims at a comparison of Pungryu and Ssitgim as aesthetic categories of Korean traditional beauty, and then a study of Meot and Huingeneul as subordinates of each categories. The brief summary of this paper is like this: First, Pungryu and S...
This paper aims at a comparison of Pungryu and Ssitgim as aesthetic categories of Korean traditional beauty, and then a study of Meot and Huingeneul as subordinates of each categories. The brief summary of this paper is like this: First, Pungryu and Ssitgim are the categories which classify the ways of existence. While Pungryu is an aesthetic category for the ontological encounter with nature,Ssitgim is an aesthetic category for the encounter with Human beings. Second, while Pungryu is connected with the practices as singing and dancing that express the unity with nature, Ssitgim is connected with the practices as play, ritual and Gut and so on that wash off the shadowy part of life. Third, while Pungryu is a way of cultivation through play, Ssitgim is a way of relief of sorrow. Fourth, while Pungryu could mean an ecological practice which purifies nature, Ssitgim is the practice which purifies our souls. As for Meot and Huingeuneul as subordinates of Pungryu and Ssitgim, first, while Meot is an aesthetic category which takes notice of the bright side of existence, Huingeuneul is mainly an aesthetic category which pays attention to the dark side of existence. Second, both of Meot and Huingeuneul have the same dialectical structure that faces contradiction and surpasses it. Third, both of Meot and Huingeuneul are the concepts that are suggested or created by artists, especially by poets. That is why both of the concepts lay emphasis on the beauty of art than that of nature or human beings. Lastly, both of them are the unique concepts that are hard to be translated into words of western languages, which means that Meot and Huingeuneul are aesthetic categories of our own.