The Story of Hong Gildong

The Story of Hong Gildong (Hong Gildong jeon) is a Korean novel of unknown authorship written in the mid-19th century during the Joseon Dynasty. The story is about Hong Gildong, the illegitimate son of a nobleman, who overcomes his low birth status and becomes an outlaw, a hero, and a king. The Story of Hong Gildong is considered the most important work of early Korean fiction because its titular character became an iconic symbol: a righteous bandit who challenged class distinctions, which were a strict feature of Joseon society. Like Robin Hood, Hong Gildong robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, making him an everyman hero. Though short for a novel by Western standards (a work of this length is usually considered a novella or a long short story), The Story of Hong Gildong is considered the first Korean novel, and this guide refers to it as a novel.

This guide uses the 2016 Penguin Classics edition of the text translated into English by Minsoo Kang.

Content note: The guide refers to rape and rape culture, which appear in the source text.

The story takes place in 15th-century Joseon in the capital city of Jangan and is narrated in the third-person past tense.