Yǔ Xìn Jí 庾信集
Collected Works of Yu Xin (Zhang Pu Reconstruction) by 庾信 (撰)
About the work
The Yǔ Xìn Jí 庾信集 at KR4b0077 is a sixteen-juàn jíyìběn 輯佚本 (reconstructed anthology) compiled by Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 (1602–1641) as part of his Hànwèi liùcháo bǎisānjiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集. This reconstruction is an extra-catalog text, distinct from the two annotated transmitted editions of Yú Xìn’s 庾信 (513–581 CE) collected works that are separately cataloged in the Kanripo corpus: the Yǔ Kāifǔ jí jiānzhù 庾開府集箋註 (KR4b0017) and the Yǔ Zǐshān jí zhù 庾子山集註 (KR4b0018). Zhāng Pǔ’s reconstruction predates those annotated editions and represents an independent philological effort drawing on the encyclopedic anthological tradition rather than on manuscript transmission.
The sixteen juàn are organized as follows. 卷一 contains the major rhapsodies (fù 賦): it opens with the 〈三月三日華林園馬射賦〉 (Rhapsody on the Imperial Archery at the Huahua Grove on the Third Day of the Third Month, with preface), followed by 〈小園賦〉 (Rhapsody on the Small Garden), 〈竹杖賦〉 (Rhapsody on the Bamboo Staff), 〈邛竹賦〉, 〈哀江南賦〉 (Lament for the South, with preface), 〈傷心賦〉, 〈枯樹賦〉 (Rhapsody on the Withered Tree), 〈春賦〉, 〈七夕賦〉, 〈象戲賦〉, 〈燈賦〉, 〈對燭賦〉, 〈鏡賦〉, 〈鴛鴦賦〉, and 〈蕩子賦〉. 卷二 opens with gē 歌 (song-texts): 〈對酒歌〉, 〈昭君辭〉, 〈王昭君〉, 〈出自薊北門行〉, 〈結客少年場行〉, 〈道士步虛詞〉 (ten poems), and ballads including 〈俠客行〉, 〈從軍行〉, 〈烏夜啼〉, 〈怨歌行〉, 〈舞媚娘〉, 〈燕歌行〉, and 〈楊柳歌〉. 卷三 moves to 江 (river-themed) and court poetry. The remaining thirteen juàn contain the full range of Yú Xìn’s output in occasional verse, parallel-prose compositions, memorials, and other documents. Citations are primarily from Yìwén lèijù 藝文類聚, Chūxué jì 初學記, and Wényuàn yīnghuá 文苑英華; the Shījì 詩紀 is cited for individual poems.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Yǔ Xìn 庾信 (513–581 CE), styled Zǐshān 子山, also known by the sobriquet Lánchéng 蘭成, was the last great poet of the pre-Táng era and the canonical master of medieval parallel prose. For biographical details, see 庾信. Briefly: born in Xīnyě 新野 (Hénán), he rose to prominence at the Liáng court, where he and Xú Líng 徐陵 defined the Xú-Yǔ tǐ 徐庾體 palace style. After the fall of Jiāngling in 554 CE he was detained at the Western Wèi court and spent the rest of his life in the north, serving under Northern Zhōu until his death in 581. Dù Fǔ’s line “Yǔ Xìn’s prose grew finer with age” (Yǔ Xìn wén zhāng lǎo gēng chéng 庾信文章老更成) canonized his late northern masterpieces as the formative model for Táng parallel prose.
Zhāng Pǔ’s reconstruction is distinguished from the annotated editions (KR4b0017, KR4b0018) in that it gathers fragments and shorter pieces from the encyclopedic tradition that may not appear in, or may vary from, the text established by the later annotators. The opening placement of 〈哀江南賦〉 in 卷一 highlights the work that later critics considered Yú Xìn’s supreme achievement — a monumental rhapsody lamenting the fall of the Liáng dynasty and the author’s permanent exile in the north. Also prominent in 卷一 is 〈小園賦〉, the intimate rhapsody on the author’s modest northern garden, and 〈枯樹賦〉, the meditation on a withered tree in exile frequently cited in Táng and later poetry. The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (Denecke et al. 2017, pp. 126–131, 225–226) treats Yú Xìn as a pivotal figure bridging the Six Dynasties and Táng literary traditions; the 〈哀江南賦〉 and 〈小園賦〉 are its reference texts for this argument.
Translations and research
- Graham, A. C. “Yü Hsien” [i.e. Yǔ Xìn]. In Arthur Cooper, ed., Li Po and Tu Fu. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973. (Partial translations of the late fù.)
- Hinton, David, trans. Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. (Selected poems by Yǔ Xìn.)
- Denecke, Wiebke, Wai-yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE–900 CE). Oxford University Press, 2017. References pp. 126–131, 225–226.
- Knechtges, David R. “Yü Hsin’s ‘Lament for the South.‘” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 36 (1976): 85–123. (Translation and analysis of 〈哀江南賦〉.)
- For the annotated transmitted editions see KR4b0017 and KR4b0018.
Links
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Xin