Xūxī xiānsheng jiàoběn Táng Wáng Yòuchéng jí 須溪先生校本唐王右丞集
Master Xū-xī’s Collated Edition of the Tang Wáng Right-Vice-Chancellor’s Collection by 王維 (撰), with collation by 劉辰翁 (Xūxī xiānshēng 須溪先生)
About the work
Xūxī xiānshēng jiàoběn Táng Wáng Yòuchéng jí 須溪先生校本唐王右丞集 in 6 juǎn — the SBCK reproduction of the late-Sòng / early-Yuán collation by Liú Chénwēng 劉辰翁 (1232–1297), hào Xūxī 須溪, of Lúlíng 廬陵 (modern Jíān 吉安, Jiāngxī) — is one of the two principal recensions of the works of Wáng Wéi 王維 (700–761) preserved in this corpus, the other being the Qīng-period 28-juǎn Wáng Yòuchéng jí jiānzhù 王右丞集箋注 by Zhào Diànchéng 趙殿成 (KR4c0022). The “Wáng Yòuchéng” of the title is from Wáng Wéi’s last office as yòu chéngxiàng 右丞相 (Vice-Director of the Right of the Department of State Affairs); Liú Chénwēng’s jiàoběn (collated edition) was produced in the late Southern Sòng / early Yuán as part of his broader Tang-poetry commentary project, which also included his (controversial) Dù gōngbù shī jí píng 杜工部詩集評.
Tiyao
No tíyào in source. The KR4c0021 file is the SBCK base, which preserves the mùlù (table of contents) but no preface or Sìkù tíyào. The text is a faithful Sòng-print descendant; for Sìkù tíyào of the Wáng Wéi corpus see KR4c0022.
Abstract
The Sòng Tángshū yìwén zhì records Wáng Wéi jí in 10 juǎn; the Sòng-period transmission descended via Wáng Jìn 王縉 (Wáng Wéi’s younger brother), who collected and preserved the surviving works after Wáng Wéi’s death in 761. The Liú Chénwēng jiàoběn in 6 juǎn is a late-Sòng abridgement-cum-collation of the standard Sòng witness, organized by genre rather than chronologically. It became, through wide YuánMíng circulation, one of the standard texts of Wáng Wéi (the other being the more complete Wáng Yòuchéng jí in 10 juǎn).
The 6 juǎn are arranged: juǎn 1 — fù, gē, xíng, zàn; juǎn 2 — yīngzhì (response-to-imperial-command verse) and other court poetry; juǎn 3–4 — gǔshī, lǜshī, juéjù, shānshuǐ shī; juǎn 5–6 — prose (biǎo, zhuàng, qǐ, xù, bēi, jì, zàn). The famous Wǎngchuān jí 輞川集 of twenty quatrains exchanged between Wáng Wéi and Péi Dí 裴迪, and Wáng’s signature Sòng Yuán èr shǐ Ānxī 送元二使安西 (“Seeing Off Yuán the Second on Mission to Ānxī,” conventionally known as the Wèichéng qǔ 渭城曲), are central to the collection.
Liú Chénwēng (1232–1297; zì Huìmèng 會孟; jìnshì of Jǐngdìng 5 = 1268) was a leading figure of the Southern Sòng yímín 遺民 generation, principally known for his sharp-edged literary criticism (the Liú Xūxī píng 劉須溪評 collations of Lǐ Hè 李賀, Wáng Wéi, Dù Fǔ, and Lù Yóu 陸游 are all attributed to him). His WángWéi commentary survives only as the present jiàoběn (with marginalia rather than full notes); Wáng Wéi’s place in his criticism is, by general agreement, more sympathetic than his treatment of Dù Fǔ. The Sòng-print descent that the SBCK reproduces has been principally important to modern textual scholarship for its preservation of Sòng-period yìnzhèng 異證 (variant readings) of certain disputed WángWéi poems.
Translations and research
- Pauline Yu. 1980. The Poetry of Wang Wei. Indiana UP. The standard English-language scholarly study and partial translation.
- Marsha L. Wagner. 1981. Wang Wei. Twayne. Briefer literary biography.
- G. W. Robinson, tr. 1973. Wang Wei: Poems. Penguin. Standard English Penguin translation.
- David Hinton, tr. 2006. The Selected Poems of Wang Wei. New Directions.
- Jean-Pierre Diény, tr. 2010. Anthologie de la poésie chinoise. Gallimard (Pléiade). Major French selection.
- Chen Tiemin 陳鐵民, ed. 1997. Wáng Wéi jí jiào-zhù 王維集校注. 4 vols. Zhōnghuá. The principal modern Chinese variorum.
Other points of interest
The Liú Chénwēng jiàoběn is one of the cleanest Sòng witnesses for Wáng Wéi’s poetry; the Sìkù-printed Wáng Yòuchéng jí jiānzhù (= KR4c0022) draws on it heavily but is editorially more ambitious.
Links
- See KR4c0022 for the Qīng (Zhào Diànchéng) annotated edition.
- Wang Wei (Wikipedia)
- Wang Wei (Wikidata Q706117)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Tang literature).