Pílíng jí 毗陵集
Collected Works of [Dúgū of] Pí-líng (Dúgū Jí) by 獨孤及 (撰), 梁肅 (編)
About the work
Pílíng jí 毗陵集 in 20 juǎn is the surviving collection of Dúgū Jí 獨孤及 (725–777), the Tiānbǎo / Dàlì-period prose stylist whose name comes from his last office Chángzhōu cìshǐ 常州刺史 (the Pílíng 毗陵 of the title is the old name of Chángzhōu). The collection was compiled at Dúgū Jí’s death by his disciple Liáng Sù 梁肅 梁肅 (753–793), who supplied a substantial preface preserved in the SBCK file and would himself become an important figure of the next generation. With Xiāo Yǐngshì 蕭穎士, Lǐ Huá 李華, and Yuán Jié 元結, Dúgū Jí is one of the four canonical Tiānbǎo / Dàlì-period fùgǔ prose writers — collectively the bridge from the High-Tang court style to the YuánHé 元和 gǔwén 古文 movement of Hán Yù 韓愈 and Liǔ Zōngyuán 柳宗元.
The catalog meta dates Dúgū Jí to 715–767, but CBDB and the standard reference works (and Liáng Sù’s funerary biography) all give 725–777, the dates followed in modern scholarship. The 715–767 figure in the catalog is a 10-year displacement that needs correction.
The transmitted SBCK text carries a substantial Qīng preface by Zhào Huáiyù 趙懷玉 of Wǔjìn 武進 (the Pílíng of the title became Wǔjìn in modern times); the preface places Dúgū Jí explicitly in the lineage YānXǔ (Zhāng ShuōSū Tǐng) → XiāoLǐ (Xiāo YǐngshìLǐ Huá) → Dúgū → Liáng Sù → Hán Yù — the canonical genealogy of the Tang fùgǔ tradition.
Tiyao
No tíyào in source. The KR4c0034 file is the SBCK base, which preserves the substantial Qīng preface by Zhào Huáiyù but no Sìkù tíyào. The Sìkù WYG 20-juǎn tíyào (V1072.3) survives in the Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào. The collection is appended a Dúgū gōng shéndào míng 獨孤公神道銘 by Cuī Yòufǔ 崔祐甫 崔祐甫 (716–780), Dúgū’s contemporary and one of the principal mid-Dàlì statesmen.
Abstract
The 20-juǎn form goes back to the original Liáng Sù compilation of ca. 778 (immediately following Dúgū’s death in 777); the Tángshū yìwén zhì records 20 juǎn, and the Sòng catalogs are consistent. The transmitted text is unusually well-preserved for a Tiānbǎo / Dàlì prose collection — Zhào Huáiyù’s preface notes that Xiāo Yǐngshì’s collection is now reduced to a single juǎn and Lǐ Huá’s only marginally better, while Dúgū’s “head and tail of 20 juǎn, in agreement with the Tángshū yìwén zhì” still stands intact. The collection contains biǎo, zhuàng, qǐ, xù, bēimíng, mùzhìmíng, jì, zàn, zhuàn, jìwén, and (in considerably smaller proportion than the prose) gē, shī, fù.
Dúgū Jí (725–777 per CBDB cbdbId 32917 and standard reference works; the catalog meta’s 715–767 is incorrect) was a Hénán 河南 Luòyáng native by family origin. Jìnshì of Tiānbǎo 13 (754); successively Hùayīn 華陰 magistrate, zuǒ shíyí 左拾遺, and (after the An Lùshān rebellion) Pòzhōu cìshǐ 鄱州刺史, Shūzhōu cìshǐ 舒州刺史, and finally Chángzhōu cìshǐ 常州刺史 (775–777) — the Pílíng of the collection’s title. Died in office at Chángzhōu in Dàlì 12 (777).
His prose (the bulk of the collection) is the principal Tiānbǎo / Dàlì model for what Hán Yù would call gǔwén — substantive content, classical zhì over wén, careful Shū jīng and Mèngzǐ allusion. His Lùn shǐ 論史 (“Discussion of History”) and ZhōuHàn lìngzhāng kǎo 周漢令章考 essays are the principal contemporary critical writings on early-medieval historiography, and his xù prefaces — particularly to Huángfǔ Rǎn 皇甫冉’s collection (= the Xù of KR4c0016) — are minor monuments of mid-Tang literary criticism.
Translations and research
- David L. McMullen. 1988. State and Scholars in T’ang China. CUP. Substantial discussion of Dúgū Jí’s prose program.
- Anthony DeBlasi. 2002. Reform in the Balance: The Defense of Literary Culture in Mid-Tang China. SUNY. The standard English-language treatment of the Tiān-bǎo / Dà-lì fù-gǔ turn.
- Charles Hartman. 1986. Han Yu and the T’ang Search for Unity. Princeton UP. Important context for Dúgū as Hán Yù’s predecessor.
- Liú Pén-lóng 劉本龍. 2003. Dúgū Jí jí Liáng Sù wén-jí jiào-zhù 獨孤及暨梁肅文集校注. Modern annotated edition.
Other points of interest
The Pílíng jí — together with Liáng Sù’s slightly later Liáng Sù wénjí — preserves the principal pre-Hán-Yù gǔwén corpus, and is therefore the indispensable source for understanding the prehistory of the YuánHé literary revolution. The Zhào Huáiyù preface’s explicit lineage construction (YānXǔ → XiāoLǐ → Dúgū → Liáng Sù → Hán Yù) is the standard pre-modern statement of this genealogy.
Links
- Dugu Ji (Wikipedia)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Tang literature); §28.7.3 (Tang fu-gǔ tradition).