Home History Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo
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Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo

  • Keysook Choe
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Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Samganghaengsildo (삼강행실도三綱行實圖, picture book on the execution of the three fundamental principles of human relations) as a complex semiotic system composed of scripts (hanmun [Chinese script] and Hangeul [Korean script]), narratives, and illustrations, and analyzes their mutual interaction on the printed page. It demonstrates how the editors of Samganghaengsildo tried to close the cultural gaps between male elites, female elites, and commoners with lettered and pictorial presentations on the page. This chapter argues that the Samganghaengsildo served a cultural politics that implemented Confucian ideas in Joseon life by connecting historical knowledge, emotion, and ethics with three narratives - two textual (and of two languages) and one pictorial.

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Samganghaengsildo (삼강행실도三綱行實圖, picture book on the execution of the three fundamental principles of human relations) as a complex semiotic system composed of scripts (hanmun [Chinese script] and Hangeul [Korean script]), narratives, and illustrations, and analyzes their mutual interaction on the printed page. It demonstrates how the editors of Samganghaengsildo tried to close the cultural gaps between male elites, female elites, and commoners with lettered and pictorial presentations on the page. This chapter argues that the Samganghaengsildo served a cultural politics that implemented Confucian ideas in Joseon life by connecting historical knowledge, emotion, and ethics with three narratives - two textual (and of two languages) and one pictorial.

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