Imjinnok is a national classic of novelistic form which dealt with the historical facts about the Imjin Patriotic War (1592-1598). It is said to be created in the first half of the 17th century.
Based on the activities of historical figures and specific events during the Imjin Patriotic War, it shows the history of the Korean people’s struggle to defend the dignity of the country and the nation against the Japanese aggressors in the hard-fought seven-year-long war.
The novel is divided into four parts in contents.
The first part deals with the details of preparations made by the Japanese aggressors to invade Korea, and the second part, the situation in the early period of the war when the aggressors made a surprise invasion of Korea in April 1592.
The third part describes the struggles of Admiral Ri Sun Sin and righteous volunteers’ army commanders in different parts of the country and their victory in counteroffensive operations.
It tells the stories about Ri Sun Sin who achieved one victory after another in the naval battles, Commander Jong Mun Bu and his Righteous Volunteers’ Army that dealt the first crushing blow to the enemy on land, and Kim Ung So in Ryonggang, Phyongan Province.
The last part deals with stories that Korea, after driving the enemy out of the country, dispatched its envoy to Japan and demanded its final surrender.
As seen above, it did not give prominence to a hero but described the patriotic struggles of the Korean people against aggression in such a way of setting the plots of patriotic figures like Ri Sun Sin, Jong Mun Bu and Kim Ung So in the order of time.
Imjinnok is of great significance in the history of the Korean literature as the first novel depicting the Imjin Patriotic War in an epic style.
As the first work written in Korean in the first period of the developing novel literature, it made a contribution to developing progressive and patriotic novel literature in the period thereafter.
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