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A Structural Reading of the Chuan in the Wen-yüan ying-hua
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
Extract
Perhaps the first question should be “Why?” Why transport a critical apparatus heavily laden with paradoxical factions and conflicting terminology back a millennium to the Chinese genre known as cbuana? And why a genre study, when so much groundwork is still necessary before Chinese literature can begin to demand for itself a larger consideration in general contemporary literary criticism? To attend to the second query first, genre studies are essential now for two reasons: 1) because genres evolve much more readily than their designations, and 2) because they are so basic to a reader's (and thus a critic's) approach to a work. Misunderstandings of the diachronic changes of what a generic title may include have led to useless critiques, the most notable case being perhaps that of Henry James and Fielding. In reply to the question of why a structural approach, the answer is less definitive.
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References
1 “Genres littéraires,” in Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences du langage (Paris: Seuil, 1972), p. 193 [my translation].Google Scholar
2 See, for example, Jonathan Culler's discussion in Structuralist Poetics, Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975), pp. 134–36.Google Scholar
3 Meaning and origin of titles of traditional Chinese works present troublesome problems. Without attempting further discussion of it here, it should be pointed out that one of the chuan examined in this study, Tu Mu's “Yen chiang chuan” (#19), is entitled “Yen chiang lup”p in his collected works (cf. Fan-ch'uan wen-chi,qch. 6, fol. la [Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an (hereafter SPTK) ed.]).
4 Because of the variegated works included under this rubric, it would seem that no single equivalent translation can be found and it is best translated only in context.
5 Ch. 1, fol. 4b (SPTK).
6 It was specifically associated with biography in the Chiu T'ang shu “Ching-chi chih”r (roughly contemporary with the WYYH); cf.ch. 26, fol. 2b (Pona ed.).
7 There are actually thirty-five titles in chüan 792–96 of the WYYH (Taipei: Hua-wen shu-chü, 1965), vol. 10, pp. 4995–5025; but one is by the pre-T'ang author Yü Hsins (A.D. 513–581), and one is not entitled chuan. Only the title of Shen Ya-chih's “Biography of Kuo Chang” appears in the WYYH; the text has been supplied from his collected works, Shen Hsia-hsien wen-chi,t ch. fol. 42b-43b (SPTK).
8 “The Wen Hsüan and Genre Theory,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies [hereafter HJAS], XXIX (1957), P. 512Google Scholar.
09 No preface penned by the original editors, that is. There is a fragment of the memorial submitted by Sung Pou (A.D. 936–1012), the chief compiler, to the throne upon the completion of the work; see Wang Ying-linr (A.D. 1223–1296), Yü haiw (Taipei: Hua-wen shu-chü, 1964),ch. 54, fol. 17a-18b (p. 1067). We have no edict ordering the work either. Although some sections are prefaced by brief comments of a generic nature, that of the chuan is not.
10 (Note 8 above); he concludes, nevertheless (p. 533), that Hsiao Tung did not reach a consistent solution to generic formulation.
11 See John Marney's comments in his “Emperor Chien-wen of the Liang Dynasty,” (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Wisconsin, 1971), p. 182. In fact, although we have two important studies of how the WYYH was compiled—Kuo Po-kung,xSung ssu ta-shu-k'aoy (Shanghai: Shang-wu yin-shu kuan, 1940), pp. 75–102, and Hanabusa Hideki, “Bunei eiga no hensen,”aaTōkyō gakuhō, 19 (1950), pp. 116–35—little is known about why the work was compiled.
12 Including some of the pieces collected in the WYYH.
13 Actually the WH had 38 generic categories, the WYYH only 37.
14 There are, however, several attempts to explain the arrangement or corpus of chuan in the WYYH; cf. n. 54 below.
15 As Todorov has shown, one is certainly permitted (even, in the case of many genres, required by the vast number of pieces) to deduce general hypotheses from a rather limited corpus; cf. Richard Howard (trans.), The Fantastic, A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1975), pp. 3–4Google Scholar. However, one must then avoid ex post facto selection of a corpus tofita preconceived theoretical concept.
16 These categories are derived from the chuan themselves, and seem to poise both the discussion herein as well as possible future speculations concerning diachronic and generic chuan development.
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21 Chüan 792: (2) Li Hua, “Biography of the Late Li Hsien of the T'ang Dynasty, Duke of the Kingdom of Liang, President of the Ministry of War, and Prime Minister,” (3)* Li Ao, “Biography of the Late Lu Tan, Military Governor of Tung-chou”; Chüan 793: (4) Lu Ts'ang-yung, “Unofficial Biography of Ch'en Tzu-ang,” (5) Yü Shao, “Biography of Marshal Tien,” (6) Lu Yü, “Autobiography of Literature Lu,” (7) Han Yü, “Biography of the Mason, Wang Ch'eng-fu,” (8) Han Yü, “Biography of Fur Point,” (9) Han Yü, “Biography of the Marquis of Hsia-pei, Ko Hua”; Chüan 794: (10) Liu Tsung-yüan, “Biography of Sung Ch'ing,” (11) Liu Tsung-yüan, “Biography of Camel Kuo, the Gardener,” (12) Liu Tsung-yüan, “Biography of the Lad, Ou Chi,” (13) Liu Tsung-yüan, “Biography of a Master Carpenter,” (14) Liu Tsung-yüan, “Biography of Li Ch'ih,” (15) Ch'en Hung, “Chronicle for the ‘Lament of Everlasting Remorse’”; Chüan 795: (16) Shen Ya-chih, “Biography of Li Shen,” (17) Shen Ya-chih, “Biography of Kuo Ch'ang,” (18) Shen Ya-chih, “Biography of Feng Yen,” (19) Tu Mu, “Biography of the General of Yen,” (20) Tu Mu, “Biography of Chang Pao-kao and Cheng Nien,” (21) Li Ch'i, “Biography of Ts'ai Hsi,” (22) Pi Jih-hsiu, “Biography of Ho Wu”; Chüan 796: (23) Wang Chi, “Biography of Couldn't-CareLess,” (24) Wang Chi, “Biography of the Basket-Bearer,” (25) Wang Chi, “Biography of Mr. Chung-ch'ang,” (26) Wang Chi, “Biography of Mr. Five Gallons,” (27) The Buddhist Monk, Chiao-jan, “Biography of the Layman Ch'iang,” (28) Po Chü-i, “Biography of the Gentleman Who Gets Drunk and Chants,” (29) Lu Kuei-meng, “Biography of the Desultory Fellow of the Rivers and Lakes,” (30) Lu Kuei-meng, “Biography of the Gentleman from Fu-li,” (32) Li Hua, “Biography of Lady Li,” (33)* Li Ao, “Biography of the Virtuous Wife nee Yang,” (34) Tu Mu, “Biography of the Virtuous Woman Tou,” (35) P'i Jih-hsiu, “Biography of Chaos Daughter.” (“listed without author in WYYH; see also n. 7 above)
22 For theories of narration, see Friedman, Norman, “Point of View in Fiction: The Development of a Critical Concept,” Publications of the Modern Language Association, 70 (1955), pp. 1160–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a review of research since 1955, see Genette, Gérard, Figures III (Paris: Seuil, 1972), pp. 203–06Google Scholar and , Todorov, “Vision dans la fiction,” in Diction-naire (n. 1 above), pp. 411—16.Google Scholar
23 WYYH, ch. 794, fol. 10b (p. 5011).
24 See Bauer, Wolfgang, “Icherleben und Autobiographie ira älteren China,” HeidelbergerJahrbuecher, 8 (1964), p. 24.Google Scholar
25 The “Fu River Gaffer” was a famous doctor who was often to be found fishing the Fu River;ab see Hou Han shu,accb. 112B, fol. 7b [at the onset of Kuo Yü'sad biography] (Po-naed.).
26 WYYH, ch. 796, fol. 8a (p. 5022).
27 This type of narrator closely resembles what Robert Scholes and Rober t Kellogg have called a “histor”; see their The Nature of Narrative (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1966), pp. 265ff.Google Scholar
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32 WYYH, ch. 795, fol. 3a (p. 5014).
33 The problem of irony—involving a meaning different from or contrary to what is ostensibly expressed and predicated in a world view distant, both temporally and culturally, from that of today—is a controversial one. It has led to numerous misunderstandings on the part of critics. E. D. Edwards, for example, would not accept Shen Ya-chih's praise of Feng Yen, a murderer, and read Shen's comments ironically; , Edwards, Chinese Prose Literature of the Tang Period, 2 vols. (London: Probsthain, 1938), II, pp. 44–46Google Scholar. For a discussion of one of these allegories, see my “An Allegorical Reading of Han Yü's ‘Mao Ying Chüan’ (Biography of Fur Point),” Oriens Extremus, XXIII (1976)Google Scholar
34 See Herbert Franke's comments in “Literary Parody in Traditional Chinese Literature: Descriptive Pseudo-Biographies,” Oriens Extremus, XXI (1974), pp. 23–31.Google Scholar
35 For a topical-allegorical interpretation of this piece see Lin Shu'sae comments cited in Chang Shih-chao,afLiu-wen chih-yaoag (Peking: Chung hua shu-chü, 1971), ch. 17, p. 551.Google Scholar
36 WYYH, ch. 794, fol. 7b (p. 5010).
37 The use of these terms follows Jakobson, Roman, “Two Aspects of Language: Metaphor and Metonymy” in Gras, Vernon W. (ed.), European Literary Theory and Practice (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1973), pp. 119–29.Google Scholar
35 See their “Syntax, Diction and Imagery in Tang Poetry,” HJAS, XXXI (1971), pp. 60–61.Google Scholar
39 Following Hans Frankel's remarks (“T'ang Li-terati: A Composite Biography,” in Confucian Personalities, p. 66) on the different treatment of great “individuals” vs. lesser “types” in Chuan, one should, perhaps, not presume too heavily upon the homogeneity of all Chüan in dynastic histories.
40 WYYH, ch. 792, fol. 5b (p. 4997).
41 Literally her “hsiao-tzu ah was Kuei-niang”; on this type of name, see Bauer, Wolfgang, Der chinesische Personenname (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1959), P. 12 text and n. 2.Google Scholar
42 WYYH, ch. 796, fol. 11a-b (p. 5024).
43 WYYH, ch. 794, fol. 8a (p. 5010).
44 WYYH, ch. 794, fol. 8b (p. 5010).
45 Ch'ao Ts'o was put to death by Emperor Ching of the Han dynasty to appease the seven rebelling states in 154 B.C.; Han shu,aich. 5, fol. 4a (Po-na ed.).
46 “Die Biographie in China,” Saeculutn, 8 (1957), PP. 224–35.Google Scholar
47 See also Shih-hsiang, Ch'en, “An Innovation in Chinese Biographical Writing,” Far Eastern Quar terly, XIII (1953–54), pp. 52–53Google Scholar; , Twitchett, “Prob lems of Chinese Biography” in Beasley, W. G. and Pulleyblank, E. G. (eds.), Historians of China and Japan (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1961), pp. 111–12.Google Scholar
48 See Bauer's explication of the origin of this type of biography; n. 24 above, p. 24. He asserts that these defensive, autobiographical were written to justify a life that had not followed the usual official career.
49 WYYH, ch. 793, fol. 6a-b (p. 5003).
50 WYYH, ch. 793, fol. 6b (p. 5003).
51 Cf. section I.I above.
52 See Scholes and Kellogg (n. 27 above), pp. 82–83.
53 Ch'en Tzu-ang and Li Shen, for example, both have official-biographical Chüan in the T'ang histories which incorporate parts of their “biographies” as found in the WYYH.
54 Cf. Chang Hsüeh-ch'engaj (A.D. 1738–1801), “Chuan chi,”ak in Wen-shih t'ung-ial (Peking: Ku-chi ch'u-pan-she, 1956), pp. 152–54, for example.Google Scholar