Kim Man-jung

Kim Man-jung (Korean: 김만중; Hanja: 金萬重; 6 March 1637 – 14 June 1692), also romanized as Kim Man-choong, was a Korean novelist and politician.

A member of the yangban class, Kim passed the state civil service examination and rose through the official ranks to become an academic counselor and minister during the reign of King Sukjong.

[1] As a man of letters, his most renowned works were the novels Record of Lady Sa's Trip to the South and The Cloud Dream of the Nine The former, a novel about family affairs set in China, is a satirical depiction of the political reality of his day and in particular a rebuke of King Sukjong.

[2] It is an ideal novel dealing with the affairs of life and is centered on the travails of the hero.

It has a highly Buddhist overtone, with an emphasis on the transience of worldly glory and pleasure.