Lǐ Yuánbīn wénbiān 李元賓文編
The Compiled Writings of Lǐ Yuán-bīn [Lǐ Guān] by 李觀 (撰), 陸希聲 (編)
About the work
Prose collection of Lǐ Guān 李觀 李觀 (766–794, zì Yuánbīn 元賓), a Zhàozhōu Zànhuáng 趙州贊皇 native, nephew of the early-Táng gǔwén pioneer Lǐ Huá 李華. Lǐ took the jìnshì in Zhēnyuán 8 (792) — the same Lónghǔ bǎng cohort as Hán Yù 韓愈 and Ōuyáng Zhān 歐陽詹 (= KR4c0056) — and the bóxué hóngcí in 793, but died at 29 the following year as Tàizǐ jiàoshūláng. Hán Yù wrote his epitaph (the Lǐ Yuánbīn mùmíng in Chānglí jí). The 3-juǎn main collection was edited in 890 (Dàshùn 1) by the late-Táng statesman-recluse Lù Xīshēng 陸希聲 陸希聲 (later a chief minister), who also wrote the preface. The wàibiān in 2 juǎn was edited by Zhào Áng 趙昻 of Shǔ (otherwise unknown), originally containing 14 pieces; the present text is missing one (the Tiējīng rì shàng Wáng shìyù shū) and has frequent lacunae from textual transmission.
Tiyao
Lǐ Yuánbīn wénbiān in 3 juǎn, wàibiān in 2 juǎn — by Lǐ Guān of the Táng. Guān, zì Yuánbīn, of Zhàozhōu Zànhuáng, nephew of Lǐ Huá. Zhēnyuán 8 (792) jìnshì; Zhēnyuán 9 bóxué hóngcí; rose to Tàizǐ jiàoshūláng; died at 29. Biography in Xīn Tángshū wényì zhuàn under Lǐ Huá. Hán Yù wrote his epitaph (in Chānglí jí). The first 3 juǎn were compiled in Dàshùn 1 (890) by the jǐshìzhōng Lù Xīshēng, who wrote the preface. The wàibiān 2 juǎn are inscribed “Shǔrén Zhào Áng compiled.” Lù Xīshēng later became zǎixiàng; Zhào Áng’s career is unknown. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì says Áng’s compilation has 14 piān; the present text lacks the Tiējīng rì shàng Wáng shìyù shū and shows scattered lacunae of phrase and character — corruption from repeated transcription. Guān, with Hán Yù and Ōuyáng Zhān, formed the same examination cohort, all polishing each other in gǔwén. Hán’s prose later dominated the centuries; the other two collections survive only in slim form. Some say Guān died young and his prose did not reach maturity; Hán was active to old age and so monopolized the name. Lù Xīshēng’s preface argues differently: “literature takes lǐ (principle) as substance; cí (diction) and zhì (substance) are valued differently. Yuánbīn favored cí — so cí outran lǐ; Tuìzhī (Hán Yù) favored zhì — so lǐ outran cí. Tuìzhī, even old in industry, could not have written Yuánbīn’s cí; had Yuánbīn outlived him, he would not have reached Tuìzhī’s substance.” Reading the present text: Guān’s prose is largely diāozhuó jiānshēn (cut and obscure), sometimes failing to convey its meaning — the same school as Liú Tuì (= KR4c0080) and Sūn Qiáo (= KR4c0083), but with less róngliàn (smelting and forging). The implication is that early death cut off his ripening. Compared to Liú and Sūn, his stature is comparable; compared to Hán, he falls short. Lù Xīshēng’s verdict was insightful, and one should not follow his own preface in condemning him. Yet at a moment when piānǒu dòu gōngqiǎo (parallel-prose competition) ruled, Guān threw himself into gǔwén alongside Hán Yù — though he did not reach Hán, he stood above the rank-and-file. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Chíběi ǒután faults his letters to Mèng Jiǎn (lìbù) and to Xī yuánwài as “drunken cursing at a banquet” — the censure is too severe. Lù Xīshēng’s preface calls his prose “neither old nor modern, standing alone as its own form” — apt characterization. We append the preface at the head of the present edition.
Abstract
Lǐ Guān’s collection is the chief surviving prose corpus of the Zhēnyuán 8 Lónghǔ cohort apart from Hán Yù’s. CBDB (id 92925) confirms 766–794. Catalog meta agrees. The work’s primary historical importance is twofold: (1) as a representative of the gǔwén movement at its formative moment, before Hán Yù’s mature voice fully crystallized; and (2) as the medium through which Lù Xīshēng’s 890 preface — a major late-Táng statement on the relation of cí (diction) and lǐ (principle) in gǔwén — has been preserved. Lù’s preface is one of the most-cited classical-prose-criticism documents of the late Táng. The wàibiān compiled by Zhào Áng (a Shǔ-region literatus, otherwise undocumented) appended pieces gathered later; some loss has occurred during transmission to the WYG copy.
Translations and research
- See KR4c0056 for the parallel Ōuyáng Zhān collection (same cohort).
- Hartman, Charles. 1986. Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity. Princeton UP. Treats Lǐ Guān as part of Hán Yù’s circle.
- 王运熙 Wáng Yùn-xī, 杨明 Yáng Míng. 1994. Sui Tang Wudai wenxue piping shi 隋唐五代文學批評史. Treats Lù Xī-shēng’s preface in the late-Táng prose-criticism context.
Other points of interest
Lù Xīshēng’s preface, written from his perspective as a senior late-Táng statesman, is the earliest dispassionate verdict on the cí-vs-zhì polarity within the Hán Yù school — and is the source for the Sòng-era critical commonplace that Hán Yù’s zhì (substance) and Lǐ Guān’s cí (diction) were complementary specialisms. The defense of cí against the philosophical reading of gǔwén (which would dominate after Lǐ Áo’s Fùxìng shū) is a minority report in late-Táng aesthetics that recovered importance among Sòng anthologists.