지리산권 遊山文學 연구의 전개와 주요 쟁점

초록

This study aims to comprehensively examine the development and achievements of Yusan literature (travel writings on mountain excursions) in Korea since the mid-1980s, focusing on the Jirisan region, and to present future research directions. Jirisan, long associated with the Nammyeong school of Confucianism, served as a cultural and intellectual space where moral self-cultivation, scholarly consciousness, and regional identity intersected. Accordingly, studies on Jirisan’s Yusan literature have expanded across various disciplines—classical literature, history, geography, and landscape studies—and have deepened especially since the first systematic review in 2015. During the past decade, research has broadened to include translations of Yusan poetry, studies of spatial perception, records of Gangu scholars’ excursions in the modern transition period, and analyses of diary-style narratives. The findings reveal nine major research trajectories: (1) diachronic studies of Jirisan travel records, (2) analyses of individual writers and texts, (3) comparative studies with other sacred mountains, (4) interdisciplinary linkages, (5) studies of specific spaces such as Cheonghakdong, Daewondong, and Deoksandong, (6) toponymic analysis, (7) integrative perspectives after the modern transition, (8) translation and popularization of Yusan poetry, and (9) the expansion toward diary-style narrative research. Recent studies show that Jirisan travel writings are being reinterpreted within the framework of the “humanities of mountains,” providing a cultural-historical foundation beyond literary appreciation. Despite these advances, several structural and methodological limitations remain: the dominance of a uniform interpretive frame centered on the scholarly consciousness of Joseon literati, neglect of the mountains’ physical and cultural particularities, overreliance on textual analysis, and temporal imbalance in research scope. To address these limitations, this study emphasizes the need for integrative and interdisciplinary approaches that combine textual, spatial, and historical analyses. It also highlights the importance of understanding each mountain as a distinct cultural space with unique historical layers and local identities. Ultimately, this paper reassesses forty years of Jirisan-region Yusan literature research, elucidating both the ideological dimensions of Joseon mountain culture and the intellectual discourse of regional scholars in the modern transition. The study’s significance lies in presenting a comprehensive scholarly framework for future research on Korea’s mountain culture and regional literary traditions.

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