I gotta say, y'all are seriously missing out on this one. Robin Hood, but make it Korean medieval fantasy, written in either the 1500s or the 1800s apparently. IT'S SO FUN AND Y'ALL NEED TO READ IT. I'm so glad I did.

A classic I look forward to appreciating even more in its native language.

As a South Korean, I feel a little embarrassed to see that Penguin Classic published an English translation of The Story of Hong Gil-dong as a world literature classic from Korea. To be sure, the historical importance of it can't be denied in Korean literature since it is generally believed to be one of the earliest fictions written in vernacular Korean (not in Classical Chinese - Korean counterpart of Latin) by literati. However, as literature, the novel is no more than a 2nd, or 3rd rate fanta...

I am genuinely shocked by the mostly low scoring reviews I'm seeing at the moment for this book. Most seem to be in the 3 and under range, which rather boggles my mind. Admittedly this isn't exactly the most well written or deep classic, but it's an adventure that's pure fun and well worth your time.The plot follows a Robin Hood-like figure named Hong Gildong. He's the son of a high ranking official and a servant girl, thus even though he is well educated in his father's house, he will never be

I’d never heard of Hong Gildong but he is a huge, pervasive part of Korean culture as immediately familiar as Davy Crockett or, more closely, Robin Hood. On top of that his name is the de facto placeholder - he is Korea’s John Doe. Cast out of his home, the illegitimate son of a concubine in the household of a high ranking government minister, Hong Gildong only wants to refer to his Father as Father and his Brother as Brother instead of by their government titles. Despite his incredible intellec...

This Korean folk tale reminded me a lot of Journey to the West: I wonder if it was inspired by Sun Wukong. I didn’t really like how it was quite disjointed, and for a £10 book it’s very short (only 71 pages for the story!!) but the commentary notes were actually very helpful in explaining how neo-confucian values and Korean history affected the story. I think it’s actually a badly written story though by today’s standards: Gildong’s wife is literally just a damsel in distress, and things essenti...

This story was pleasant and entertaining to read until Hong Gildong mastered the Juyeok and gained the power to summon supernatural spirits and command the wind and rain, because once he does that, he becomes omnipotent and any real conflict the story might have had is resolved right there and then. He can't be defeated so enemies are nothing to him, and though you might say the conflict was that he was respected with equality by his father for being a bastard son, I don't consider that a real c...

Hong Gildong is Korea's biggest 'epic' in the vein of Iliad, Gilgamesh, and other similar narratives. It's dated (as nearly all of these types are) in how women are viewed, how men are to behave, the modes and behaviors, etc (which makes it rather illuminating, rather than making it bad). The tale is high fantasy, set in a period that isn't defined with allusions to several different timeperiods of Korean lore. Primarily the 1400-1600s. This edition comes with some nice additional source informa...

This book led me to some lengthy korean/english discussions in order to learn the Korean words for concubine and a concubine's child. I need to increase my vocab. These words aren't particularly useful but ngl I'm glad I learned them; I enjoy learning random words.Anyway I actually really enjoyed this! I'm glad I read it. It was a quick, fun little romp and I learned quite a bit.

I’m not going to lie, I was a little intimidated by this book since it’s a classic, and I was scared that the book was going to be difficult to read even though it’s really short (less than 100 pages). I was agreeably surprised by how easy it was to read which I guess is mainly due to the translation.

A classic of Korean prose, this novel-- heavy influenced by Wu Cheng'en's novel "Outlaws of the Marsh", tells of Hong, a talented youth who is denied full status as son and citizen simply because of his low birth. He proceeds to leave home, join a bandit band and raise havoc. But as the translator notes, to read this as a proto-communist or revolutionary work would be to simply ignore the concluding pages of the work, in which Hong rejoins the kingdom as a minister of war and fulfills his filial...

This is basically a Korean Robin Hood story

"The ancients have said, 'Kings, lords, generals and ministers are not made from a special blood.' But for whose benefit was such a thing said? I have been born into a situation in which I am barred from following my ambitions, and I cannot even address my father as Father and my older brother and Brother."(아버지를 아버지라 못 하옵고, 형을 형이라 못 하오니)The Story of Hong Gildong (홍길동전) is, in the translator's words "arguably the single most important work of classic (i.e. premodern) prose fiction of Korea, in te...

▫️THE STORY OF HONG GILDONG, author unknown but attributed to Heo Gyun, translated from the Korean by Minsoo Kang, 1650?/2016.A fantastical trickster - the "low-born son" of a government official and a concubine, leaves home at 10 years of age and starts of a gang of bandits that steal from the rich and give to the poor."He addressed all the bandits. 'We will go forth across the eight provinces of Joseon and seize the wealth that was ill-gotten, but we will also help the impoverished and the opp...

I discovered 'The Story of Hong Gildong' recently. It is a 77-page novella. I just finished reading it. One day, Hong Mo, a high-ranking minister in the government has a vivid dream. He sees a fantastic vision in a beautiful landscape in his dream. After having this dream, the minister gets intimate with his concubine and she gets pregnant. When their baby is born, he looks very beautiful. He is given the name Gildong. As the years pass, this baby grows up to be a wonderful young man. He is grea...

A wonderful romp of a book, a folk legend that is part Korean Robin Hood, and part something much more interesting and dark. Hong Gildong is the auspicious son born of an important dignitary and one of his concubines (when his wife refused to sleep with him because it wouldn't look dignified!); unfortunately, as the son of a concubine, he can never call his father "Father" or his brother "Brother," but must linger in the shadows, living the good life, but never advancing in his career. This beco...

Fine recent scholarly, annotated translation of the longest (and probably oldest) version known of the classic Korean historical fantasy novel about the incredible adventures of the son of a noble and concubine, who makes up for his inability to have a proper career in government by mastering all sorts of wizardry, becoming a popular bandit (somewhat like Robin Hood), and finally conquering a nearby island kingdom and establishing an ideal Confucian monarchy.Definitely not told in a modern story...

I loved the story because the setting was relevant to ancient Korea and also the character of Hong Gildong was relevant to the setting as there should have been some low-born people who wanted to rebel against the law and King SunJong. Through this ancient story of Hong Gildong, i got to learn some new things about Korea's history and laws. Since i am Korean, i thought it was relevant to my knowledge. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves history and cultures of different countries.

A short read, this Korean novella, if you can call it that, follows the exploits of an illegitimate son born to a magistrate. Similar to Monkey (Wu Kong) in Journey to the West, Hong Gildong is a Trickster folk hero type character, but unlike his Chinese counterpart, Hong Gildong does not have any of Monkey's character flaws. Instead we are treated to a narrative that is part Eastern mysticism, part political commentary, and part folktale, making for an experience that seems just as well suited

This is a quick and easy read. Enjoyable. Lots of over-the-top magic, flying, fighting, etc. I think I found it more interesting than I might have because I have just read two other contemporary books by Korean authors and I found possible influences of Hong Gildong on one of them. I’ve explained the relationship in my review of Rina by Kang Young-sook. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...