Zuǒ Sī jí 左思集
Collected Works of Zuo Si (Reconstructed) by 左思 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the surviving literary writings of Zuǒ Sī 左思 (ca. 250–305 CE), one of the foremost Western Jin poets and rhapsodists, organized in two juǎn. The collection opens with the celebrated series 〈詠史〉 (Yǒng shǐ, Poems on History), eight poems preserved in Wénxuǎn 文選 juǎn 21, Wénzhāng zhèngzōng 文章正宗 juǎn 29, and Shī jì 詩紀 juǎn 29. Fragments are also cited from the Dunhuang manuscript Míngshā shíshì gǔjí cónɡcán 鳴沙石室古籍叢殘. The second juǎn contains miscellaneous poems (záshī 雜詩) and other pieces.
The 〈詠史〉 series is a landmark in the genre: unlike the earlier model poems attributed to Wáng Càn 王粲 and Bān Gù 班固 that limit themselves to paraphrasing historical anecdotes, Zuǒ Sī’s poems use history as a vehicle for personal lament — specifically, his frustration as a man of talent from a non-aristocratic background who cannot advance in a society dominated by the nine-rank system (jiǔpǐn zhōngzhèng 九品中正) that entrenched inherited status. The opening poem, with its contrast between the Two Shu (Shū Guǎng 疏廣 and Shū Shòu 疏受, Han officials who withdrew from office at the height of their careers) and the materially successful but morally hollow, is typical in its sardonic use of historical exemplars.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Zuǒ Sī 左思 (ca. 250–305 CE), zì Tàichōng 太沖, was a native of Línzī 臨淄 in Qí 齊 (modern Shandong). According to his biography in Jìnshū 晉書 juǎn 92, he was homely in appearance and slow in speech; he was mocked in literary circles when he announced his intention to write rhapsodies on the three capitals of Wei, Shu, and Wu to rival Zhāng Héng’s 張衡 famous Liǎng dū fù 兩都賦. But he spent ten years on the project, and when the 〈三都賦〉 (Sāndū fù, Rhapsodies on the Three Capitals) was complete and received the endorsements of Huáng Fùmì 皇甫謐 and Zhāng Huá 張華, it became so popular that the paper merchants of Luoyang raised their prices to meet demand for copies — giving rise to the proverbial phrase Luòyáng zhǐ guì 洛陽紙貴 (“paper in Luoyang became expensive”). He also compiled a biographical encyclopedia of famous women, Lièfǔ zhuàn 列女傳, as part of his educational work for his sister Zuǒ Fēn 左棻 (a consort of Emperor Wu of Jin). His biography is in Jìnshū 晉書 juǎn 92.
The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (Denecke et al. 2017) discusses Zuǒ Sī at multiple points: he is associated with the “summoning the recluse” (zhāo yǐn 招隱) tradition and the 〈詠史〉 genre as a vehicle for frustrated-talent lament. The handbook notes (p. 709) the famous anecdote that his rhapsody was so widely copied that paper prices rose. Zuǒ Sī is identified as representing the distinctive Western Jin poetic stance of using historical figures to comment indirectly on present frustrations. No significant fragments of the 〈三都賦〉 appear in the Zhāng Pǔ reconstructed collection; the latter focuses on the 〈詠史〉 poems and miscellaneous verse. Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 compiled this reconstruction for the Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集.
The CBDB record for Zuǒ Sī is id 134913 (no dates recorded). The lifedates ca. 250–305 follow Jìnshū and modern scholarly consensus. Wilkinson’s Chinese History: A New Manual does not include a dedicated entry for Zuǒ Sī.
Translations and research
- Knechtges, David R. Wen Xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature. Vol. 1. Princeton University Press, 1982. (Includes translation of some 〈詠史〉 poems.)
- Holzman, Donald. “Literary Criticism in China in the Early Third Century A.D.” Asiatische Studien / Études asiatiques 28 (1974): 113–149. (Background on Six Dynasties literary culture.)
- Denecke, Wiebke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE–900 CE). Oxford University Press, 2017. Multiple entries on Zuǒ Sī and the yǒng shǐ genre.
Links
- Wikipedia: Zuo Si
- Jìnshū 晉書 juǎn 92 (biography)
- Wénxuǎn 文選 juǎn 21 (〈詠史〉 citations)