Page 171 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

(It) is comprised of narrative, ballads, shaman ritual songs, Pansori, and folk dramas. In
the narrative is included myths, legends and folk tales. Songs of labor, songs of ritual
dance, and songs of recreation make up a major part of the ballads. Songs sung by
shamans at shaman’s rituals also have a literary value. Pansori is a lengthy narrative that
was sung by Pansori singers (called Pansori Kwangdae). Some of the Pansori scripts
have been written and handed down as novels. Korean folk drams are mask dramas and
puppet plays. We can also include proverbs and riddles in the category of oral
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literature.
Korean preachers must consider utilizing one or more of these oral techniques in

preaching. For example, the performative mode of a solo-singer storytelling art in Pansori bears

striking similarity to the perfomative aspect of sermonic language in the Korean pulpit. Its

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“ludic or playful behavior” reflects the narrative reflexivity.

Chan Park elucidates the pattern and structure of the Pansori:

The pattern of pansori narration is commonly explained as alternating between passages
that are spoken (aniri) and sung (sori). Through sung passages the performer melodically
and rhythmically demonstrates the depth of emotions felt. The rather brief spoken
passages serve as important components in the weaving of its narrative structure, such as
moving the plot forward, installing the necessary breaks in between the strenuous singing.
[There is] [t]he artistic effect of “tension and relaxation” created in the alternation of the
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two outstanding narrative components.
Further research is necessary before the preacher may be able to utilize the pansori in preaching.

Nevertheless, the Korean preachers need to pay attention to the various traditional oral literary

(New York: Macmillian, 1987), 243.

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Dong-Il Cho, “Oral Literature and the Growth of Popular Consciousness,” in Folk
Culture in Korea, ed. Sin-Yong Chun (Seoul: International Cultural Foundation, 1974), 43-57.
For further study of Oral tradition in Korea, see Kee Chae Han, “Toward a Christian Narrative
Ethic in Korea: A Methodological Discourse (MinJung).” Ph.D. diss., Vanderbilt University,
1995.

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Ibid., 43.
71
Chae E. Park, “Why Recitative, Instead of Speaking or Singing, in Pansori
Storytelling,” in Perspectives on Korea, eds. Sang Oak Lee and Duk-Soo Park (Honolulu, HI:
University of Hawaii Press, 1998), 499. //499-510.

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Ibid.