Yoon Joo-pil: Reading the Last Scenes of Joseon Dynasty Festival Culture
Labor at the construction site, performances as a form of festival culture, and the celebration of national ideology. Representative official documents mentioning the reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace include the *Annals of King Gojong*, *Diary of the Royal Secretariat*, *Records of Daily Events*, and *Diary of the Construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace*. These records the discussions regarding the reconstruction, the problems encountered, the development of alternatives, and the progress of the project. However, given that these sources fail to provide concrete accounts of the social repercussions, the scenes at the construction site, or particularly personal sentiments, literary works based on the reconstruction are considered more culturally valuable. This book focuses on the fact that the reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace was not merely a political act but the most important national cultural project of the time, and it endeavors to grasp its cultural-historical significance. Furthermore, it examines how this was the final grand undertaking of the Joseon Dynasty, where labor for construction, performances as cultural entertainment, and the celebrations for the promotion of national ideology were harmoniously intertwined. The reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace generated a tremendous amount of work and created a diverse performance culture as a spectacle. In a situation where the large-scale, state-level Sandae-nori, which had been performed in front of Gwanghwamun Gate during the early Joseon Dynasty, was moved to Changdeokgung Palace and reduced in scale after the Imjin War, and even then completely abolished after the reign of King Jeongjo, the street festivals and court plays performed in the courtyard in front of Gwanghwamun and throughout the palace grounds during the reconstruction were undoubtedly a momentous event that marked the grand finale of the "final masterpiece song" (Jong-ga-gok) in the history of Korean classical theater. This was a tradition that exploded like fireworks, adorning the night sky, but had vanished with the decline of the Joseon Dynasty and was not passed down to us—a tradition confined within parentheses.
Korean title: 조선조 축제문화의 마지막 광경을 읽다
Korean author: 윤주필
Korean publisher: 민속원
ISBN-13: 9788928514892
