정인보(鄭寅普, 1893~1950)가 1930년 발표한 「조선문학원류초본」은 자신의 시대적 고민과 요청을 고대문학에 투영하여, 조선문학의 원류적 가치를 구상한 것이다. 구성상의 특질을 요약하면, 개괄적 설명이 많은 분량을 차지한 것은 남아 있는 고대문학 작품에 비해 부여하고 싶은 의미가 더 컸기에 초래된 결과라는 것, 각론에서 문학 대신 문예라는 용어를 사용한 것은 남아 있는 고대문학작품에 외부 맥락을 통해 다른 각도의 의미를 부여하고 싶었기에 초래된 결과라는 것, 한문학을 적극적으로 수용하면서도 중국과 다른 우리말의 문법에 충실한 작품에 더욱 높은 가치를 두었다는 것, 고구려-신라-백제의 순서로 각론을 배치한 것은 각국의 문학에 부여한 가치 평가의 순서와 일치한다는 것이다. 또한 그가 구상한 고대 조선문학은 민족공동체 내부에 대해서는 인애(仁愛)를 보여야하고, 민족공동체를 위협하는 외부에 대해서는 무위(武威)를 드러내며, 공동체의 진솔(眞率)함을 유지하여 서로 감촉이 소통되도록 해야 하고, 공동체의 경계선은 의자불의타(依自不依他)의 정신으로 지켜내는 데에 도움이 되어야 하는 것이었다. 이것은 정인보가 상상하는 민족 국가의 도덕률로 볼 수 있다.

In his short paper titled Joseon-munhak wollyuchobon (朝鮮文學源流草本; An Outline of the Origin of Joseon Literature, 1930), Jeong In-bo(1893-1950) expressed his worries over the state of his own period and found a breakthrough for resolving the conflicts from ancient literature of Korea. Jeong interpreted old literature of the nation as a value criterion for his own period and conceived that he could seek a solution for complicated issues from it. Some of the major structural characteristics of the essay are as follows. General descriptions take a large portion of the paper, which is attested to that he intended to impose a significant meaning on old Korean literary works that had been handed down. With regard to respective topics, Jeong used a term munye (literature as arts) rather than munhak (literature), possibly with a view to express his own view of ancient literary works from the perspective of historical and cultural context. Although he acknowledged that literature written in classical Chinese should be included into “Joseon literature,” Jeong nevertheless put higher value on those works that faithfully observed vernacular style literary Chinese grammar that was different from Chinese one in terms of style. The arrangement of chapters in the order of the Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje kingdoms coincides with what he valued most among the three in terms of literary value of their works. Jeong set several criteria with regard to what he called proper ancient “Joseon literature” : 1) it should show “benevolence and love (仁愛)” toward the ethnic community; 2) it should risk “the use of arms (武威)” against the outer forces that threatens the ethnic community; 3) it should help maintain “ingenuousness (眞率)” of the community in order to help the members communicate with each other; and 5) contribute to the defense of the community with “the spirit of independence without relying on others (依自不依他).” This also coincides with what Jeong imagined as the morality of modern nation-state.