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後山談叢

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Text ID
KR3l0038
Date
1095–1101
Dynasty
北宋

Hòushān táncóng 後山談叢

Hou Shan’s Forest of Conversation by 陳師道 (撰)

About the work

A four-juàn compilation of historical-political anecdotes by the Northern-Sòng poet 陳師道 Chén Shīdào 陳師道 (1053–1101, zì Wújǐ 無已, hào Hòushān 後山). One of the Sūmén 蘇門 — the literary disciples around Sū Shì — Chén Shīdào lived in deep poverty for most of his life; the Hòushān táncóng is the prose-anecdotal counterpart to his canonical Hòushān shīhuà 後山詩話. The work was composed in his final years (the entry on Sū Shì’s death is included, dating composition to Jiànzhōng jìngguó 1 / 1101 or just after), but several entries appear to be earlier zhájì recollected and arranged in the late period. Lù Yóu’s Lǎoxuéān bǐjì questioned the work’s authenticity; Hóng Mài’s Róngzhāi suíbǐ objected to several specific entries but accepted the attribution; the Sìkù compilers reaffirm Chén Shīdào’s authorship based on Wèi Yǎn’s 魏衍 appended note to Hòushān jí (where Táncóng and Shīhuà are referenced as separate works by Chén) and on internal dating evidence.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Hòushān táncóng in 4 juàn, by the Sòng Chén Shīdào. Shīdào zì Wújǐ; Hòushān is his biéhào; native of Péngchéng. By recommendation he was appointed Dìzhōu jiàoshòu; under Huīzōng he held Mìshū shěng zhèngzì. Career in Sòng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. Lù Yóu’s Lǎoxuéān bǐjì somewhat doubts the work, or supposes it youthful work. But Chén’s Hòushān jí in front has the note appended by his disciple Wèi Yǎn that táncóng and shīhuà exist as separate juàn — so the work does come from Shīdào’s hand. Further, juàn 4 records the death of Sū Shì and the Tàixué students’ fasting-Buddhist-rite for him; Shì died in Jiànzhōng jìngguó 1 (1101) 6th month, and Shīdào also died that year 11th month 29th day from a cold caught at the southern suburb sacrifice — so the work belongs to his last years, not his youth, plainly. Hóng Mài’s Róngzhāi suíbǐ objects to: the entry that Lǚ Xǔgōng [Yíjiǎn] disliked HánFànFù [Qí, Zhòngyān, Bì]; the entry that Dīng Wénjiǎn [Dù] entrapped Sū Zǐměi to bring down Dù Qígōng [Yǎn]; the entry that Dīng Jìngōng [Wèi] bribed eunuchs to obstruct Zhāng Guāiyá [Yǒng]; the entry that Zhāng Guāiyá purchased land and dwellings to soil himself — all departures from fact. We have now examined the four and confirm Hóng Mài’s correction. But Mài goes on to praise the work for “bǐlì gāojiǎn, bì chuán yú hòushì” (high and concise pen-power, sure to be transmitted to later ages), without claiming forgery by another hand. Mài lived not far from Shīdào’s time and his investigation is not perfunctory; we conclude that Lù Yóu’s “youthful work” guess is yìduàn (subjective conjecture).

Abstract

Chén Shīdào (CBDB id 3081; 1053–1101) is one of the canonical Jiāngxī shīpài (Jiangxi Poetry School) figures; his life of austere poverty became a model of literati moral purity. The Hòushān táncóng covers Northern-Sòng political history from the founding through Yuányòu, with characteristic Sūmén perspective on the Xīníng New Policies. The four cited factual errors (the Lǚ Yíjiǎn portrait of personal animus toward FànHánFù; Dīng Dù’s role in the Sū Shùnqīn case; Dīng Wèi’s bribery to undermine Zhāng Yǒng; Zhāng Yǒng’s deliberate property-acquiring) reflect partisan transmission rather than malicious invention.

The work’s literary value is high: Hóng Mài’s praise of bǐlì gāojiǎn (high and concise pen-power) reflects the consensus view that Chén Shīdào’s prose, like his poetry, achieves a distinctive austere classical register. Many entries have been excerpted into later shīhuà (especially Wèi Qìngzhī’s Shīrén yùxiè) for their critical observations on Sòng poetry.

Standard modern edition: included in QuánSòng bǐjì (Dàxiàng), and in Hòushān jūshì wénjí jiàojiān (Shànghǎi gǔjí, 1984).

Translations and research

  • Yoshikawa Kōjirō. An Introduction to Sung Poetry (HUP 1967). Treats Chén Shī-dào’s poetic and prose practice.
  • Egan, Ronald C. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (HUP 1994) — treats the Sū-mén and Chén Shī-dào.
  • No complete European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The 1101 dating — bracketing Sū Shì’s death (June) and Chén Shīdào’s own (November) — makes the work one of the earliest Sòng bǐjì to record Sū Shì’s death; the entry on the Tàixué students fasting for Sū is the locus classicus for the popular Tàixué reception of the SūShì cult.

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