東觀集

Dōngguān jí 東觀集

The Dōng-guān (Eastern Pavilion) Collection (of Wèi Yě) by 魏野 (撰)

About the work

Dōngguān jí 東觀集 is the 10-juǎn collection of Wèi Yě 魏野 (960–1019, zì Zhòngxiān 仲先, hào Cǎotáng jūshì 草堂居士), one of the most celebrated yǐnyì 隱逸 (“recluse”) poets of the early Northern Sòng — Lín Bū’s 林逋 near contemporary and his closest analogue in poetic style and recluse persona. The original collection was Cǎotáng jí 草堂集 in 10 juǎn, compiled by Wèi Yě himself; after his death his son Wèi Xián 魏閑 supplemented the older with newer poems (300 in total) into a 7-juǎn recension and renamed it Dōngguān jí in honor of Wèi Yě’s posthumous office Mìshūshěng zhùzuòláng (the Mìshūshěng being the Dōngguān) — Xuē Tián’s 薛田 preface of Tiānshèng 1 / 1023 narrates the recompilation.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: the Dōngguān jí in 10 juǎn was composed by Wèi Yě of the Sòng. Yě, zì Zhòngxiān, hào Cǎotáng jūshì 草堂居士. His ancestors were Shǔ men who moved to Shǎnzhōu. Zhēnzōng heard his name and summoned him; he refused. Died Tiānxǐ 3 / 1019. Posthumous Mìshūshěng zhùzuòláng. Wèi was contemporary with Lín Bū 林逋; his posthumous fame fell short of Lín’s, who picturesquely adorned the lake and mountains and supplied later poets with topics for tíyǒng, but in his own time Wèi’s prestige was above Lín’s. Miǎnshuǐ yāntán records that Zhēnzōng on his way to sacrifice at Fényīn sent men to paint the place where Wèi lived; Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn records that in early Dàzhōngxiángfú a Liáo envoy arrived saying his country had obtained the upper-half of Wèi Yě’s Cǎotáng jí and asked for the complete copy; Xù Xiāngshān yělù records that the famous Chángān courtesan Tiān Sū obtained one of Wèi’s poems and inscribed it on the studio wall to boast of it to others — his sway over the age can be imagined. Per Xuē Tián’s preface of Tiānshèng 1 / 1023, Wèi previously had Cǎotáng jí in circulation; the Sòngshǐ also calls it Cǎotáng jí in 10 juǎn — that is the older recension. The preface continues that his son Xián mixed old and new poems totaling 300 pieces and arranged them as 7 juǎn, taking the posthumous title office to name it Jùlù Dōngguān jí — that is the Dōngguān jí in 7 juǎn recompiled by Xián. The present recension has 359 poems but is in 10 juǎn — the reason is unclear, perhaps the preface mistakes “10” for “7”? There is also a separate Dōngguān jí bǔyí in 3 juǎn from the Tóngxiāng Wāng family with no preface or postface and unknown editor; on examination its 119 poems are exactly juǎn 4–6 of the present recension — clearly a forgery by booksellers and not authoritative. Some suspect that excluding these 3 juǎn the remaining matches Xuē Tián’s 7 juǎn and was made by later hands combining them; but excluding the 119 the remainder still has only 240 poems, against the xù’s 300, so this cannot be either. Wèi at the dawn of the Sòng still wrote in the older Five-Dynasties register — not yet up to Lín’s transcendent level — but his bosom was uncluttered, hence finally free of the petty vulgar air; compared with Yáng Pǔ 楊樸’s Yǒng suō and the like, certainly does not yield. The editor of recluse poetry would not omit him. Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 9th month, respectfully collated.

Abstract

Wèi Yě’s literary persona is closely paired with Lín Bū’s: both were celebrated early-Northern-Sòng recluses, both refused court summons, both wrote in the late-Táng plain register, and both were canonized after death. Wèi lived at Shǎnzhōu (Shǎn xiàn, modern Hénán) — his “Cǎotáng” (thatched hall) studio became his hào — and his contemporary fame was if anything greater than Lín’s: the Sòngshǐ and Miǎnshuǐ yāntán anecdote of the Liáo envoy requesting the second half of his Cǎotáng jí indicates his international reputation, and the courtier-poet exchanges with Sòng Bái 宋白, Wáng Dàn 王旦, Kòu Zhǔn 寇準, and Lǚ Méngzhèng 呂蒙正 indicate his standing at court. After Lín’s iconographic canonization in YuánMíng painting, Wèi’s reputation receded somewhat; modern scholarship has begun to restore him to comparable standing.

The transmitted text is the supplemented Wèi Xián recension — 359 poems in 10 juǎn in the WYG, with the apparent disagreement against Xuē Tián’s preface of 7 juǎn (the Sìkù compilers themselves note this puzzlement). The collection’s principal contents are qījué and qīlǜ on recluse-life themes, exchange poems with notable contemporaries, and a small body of gǔfēng in late-Táng register. The dating bracket marks Wèi’s death (1019) to Xuē Tián’s preface for the recompiled recension (1023).

Translations and research

• Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎. 1962. An Introduction to Sung Poetry. Treats Wèi as part of the early-Sòng recluse-poet group with Lín Bū.
• Lǐ Mèng-shēng 李夢生, ed. 1991. Wèi Yě jí jiào-zhù 魏野集校注. Bā-Shǔ shū-shè. Standard modern critical edition.
• No major Western monograph.

Other points of interest

The Liáo envoy anecdote — the Khitan court asking the Sòng for the missing half of Wèi’s Cǎotáng jí in Dàzhōngxiángfú — is one of the more striking attestations of cross-border literary celebrity in early SòngLiáo cultural relations and is paralleled by similar anecdotes about Sū Shì decades later.

Links

• Wei Ye (Wikidata)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Sòng poetry).