Luò Bīnwáng wén jí 駱賓王文集
Collected Works of Luò Bīn-wáng by 駱賓王 (撰)
About the work
Luò Bīnwáng wén jí 駱賓王文集 in 10 juǎn is the older and fuller of the two surviving recensions of Luò Bīnwáng’s 駱賓王 (627–684?) collected works, transmitted in the Sìbù cóngkān 四部叢刊 (SBCK) reproduction of a SòngYuán print descent. It is to be distinguished from the 4-juǎn Luò chéng jí KR4c0006 preserved in the Sìkù WYG with Yán Wénxuǎn’s 顏文選 commentary; this 10-juǎn version represents the original Táng recension, edited under Zhōngzōng’s edict of Shénlóng 1–3 (705–707) by Xī Yúnqīng 郗雲卿 (a Lǔguó 魯國 native, Yúnqīng his zì), whose substantial preface — preserved as front matter to this edition — is our principal source for Luò’s biography.
The 10 juǎn are organized by genre (sòng, fù, gǔshī, lǜshī, juéjù, xù, zhuàn, biǎo, qǐ, shū, zázhù) and contain ca. 200 pieces, including all the works in the WYG 4-juǎn version plus a substantial body of additional matter — particularly xù and parting verse from his Yǎnzhōu and Jiāngnán periods — that the late-Míng 4-juǎn compilers had lost. This is therefore the better witness for serious philological study of Luò.
Prefaces
The SBCK file opens with Xī Yúnqīng’s Luò Bīnwáng wén jí xù 駱賓王文集序 (the Lǔguó Xī Yúnqīng preface, dated implicitly to the Shénlóng edict-search, ca. 707) — preceded by an extract of the Tángshū lièzhuàn 唐書列傳 (= Xīn Tángshū 201 Wényuàn lièzhuàn shàng) section on Luò and the Four Outstanding Ones. The Tángshū extract is most valuable for preserving Cuī Róng’s 崔融 and Zhāng Shuō’s 張說 famous critical assessments of the Sì jié (Cuī: “Wáng Bó’s prose is grand and unconstrained, beyond ordinary men; Yáng Jiǒng and Lú Zhàolín can approach him”; Zhāng Shuō: “Yáng’s prose is like a hanging river, never exhausted — superior to Lú, not less than Wáng”). The Xī Yúnqīng preface is the principal source for Luò’s zì Guānguāng 觀光, his death in the Guāngzhái 1 (684) rebellion, and the imperial recovery edict.
Abstract
The Xī Yúnqīng 10-juǎn recension is the editorial ur-text of the Luò Bīnwáng corpus: every later anthology and recension descends from it. The Sòng Chóngwén zǒngmù records 10 juǎn; the Tángshū yìwén zhì records 10 juǎn. By the YuánMíng the 10-juǎn version had become rare and the 4-juǎn abridgement (= KR4c0006) circulated more widely. The SBCK reproduction preserves the principal Sòng witness of the longer original. For the historical and literary background see the entry KR4c0006.
Translations and research
- Stephen Owen. 1977. The Poetry of the Early T’ang. Yale UP. Substantial chapter on Luò, drawing on the 10-juǎn recension.
- Chen Xizhong 陳熙中, ed. 1985. Luò Bīn-wáng wén jí 駱賓王文集. Shànghǎi gǔjí. Modern critical edition based principally on this SBCK recension.
- Huang Yi-zhen 黃懿楨. 2002. Luò Bīn-wáng yán-jiū 駱賓王研究. Wén-jīn.
- See also references at KR4c0006.
Other points of interest
This 10-juǎn SBCK version preserves a number of early-life Yáozhōu dào pò nìzéi 姚州道破逆賊 lùbù 露布 (“victory dispatches”) drafted by Luò while attached to the southwestern frontier garrisons in the 660s — important documentation of Táng dispatches to Yáozhōu (modern Dàlǐ prefecture, Yúnnán) and the Liáoyáng 遼陽 frontier campaigns of Gāozōng.
Links
- See KR4c0006 for the Sìkù 4-juǎn recension of the same author.
- Luo Binwang (Wikipedia)
- Luo Binwang (Wikidata Q713093)