Jiāng Yān jí 江淹集
Collected Works of Jiang Yan (Reconstructed) by 江淹 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the literary writings of Jiāng Yān 江淹 (444–505 CE), one of the most celebrated writers of the Southern Dynasties period. Organized in ten juǎn, the collection opens with the 〈恨賦〉 (Rhapsody on Resentment), one of the most famous fù in Chinese literary history, cited from Wénxuǎn 文選 juǎn 16. Other significant pieces include the 〈別賦〉 (Rhapsody on Parting), also from Wénxuǎn, and a wide range of poems, rhapsodies, and prose documents cited from encyclopaedic sources including Yìwén lèijù 藝文類聚, Chūxué jì 初學記, and Shī jì 詩紀. This jíyìběn was compiled by Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 (1602–1641) for his Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集 and is distinct from the separately transmitted Jiāng Wéntōng jí 江文通集 in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書 (KR4b0015 and KR4b0016).
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Jiāng Yān 江淹 (444–505 CE; zì Wéntōng 文通) was a literary polymath who served successively under the Liu Song, Southern Qi, and Liang dynasties. Born in Jìyáng 濟陽 Kǎochéng 考城 (modern Henan), he rose to high office under the Liang Emperor Wu and served as Sǎnqí Chánshì 散騎常侍 and other positions. His biography is in Liángshū 梁書 juǎn 14 and Nán shǐ 南史 juǎn 59. See 江淹 for full biography.
Denecke et al. (Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature, 2017, 803–806, 956) highlight Jiāng Yān as the quintessential mimicry poet of the Southern Dynasties: his Zátǐ shī sānshíshǒu 雜體詩三十首 (Thirty Poems in Various Styles) are studied imitations of thirty earlier poets from Lǐ Líng 李陵 to Tǎo Yuānmíng 陶淵明. The 〈恨賦〉 and 〈別賦〉 are his most celebrated independent compositions — tightly structured parallel-prose rhapsodies cataloguing historical and literary types of grief (hèn 恨) and parting (bié 別) respectively, building on the examples of Sòng Yù 宋玉. The story of his “losing his genius” (cái jìn 才盡) under the Liang, explained by a dream in which Guo Pu returned his writing brush, became a celebrated topos.
Jiāng Yān compiled a Qiánjí 前集 (Former Collection) and Hòují 後集 (Latter Collection) of his own works; Denecke et al. (citing Liángshū 14.251) note that the current transmitted edition of his collected works is believed to represent the Qiánjí, written shortly after the founding of the Qi dynasty in 479. The jíyìběn by Zhāng Pǔ represents a parallel reconstruction from citations.
Translations and research
- Jiang Yan 江淹. Jiāng Wéntōng jí huìzhù 江文通集彙注, annot. Hú Zhījǐ 胡之驥. Beijing: Zhōnghuá, 1984.
- Knechtges, David R. “Jiang Yan: Hen Fu.” In Knechtges and Chang, eds., Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014.
- Tian, Xiaofei. “Literary Collections.” In Denecke et al., Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017, 803–822.
Links
- Wikipedia: Jiang Yan