Gūxī jūshì qiánjí 姑溪居士前集
Former Collection of the Gū-xī (Aunty-Stream) Recluse by 李之儀 (撰), 吳芾 (編)
About the work
Gūxī jūshì qiánjí 姑溪居士前集 in 50 juǎn and hòují (Latter Collection) in 20 juǎn preserve the writings of Lǐ Zhīyí 李之儀 (c. 1048–c. 1117), one of the Sūmén secondary literary network, best known as a cí-poet and intimate of Sū Shì. The title takes Lǐ’s hào Gūxī jūshì 姑溪居士 — adopted after his Tàipíngzhōu exile (in Gūxī, near Dāngtú) for drafting Fàn Chúnrén 范純仁’s posthumous memorial too directly. The qiánjí was edited by Wú Fú 吳芾 吳芾 in Qiándào 3 (1167) when Wú was Zhī Dāngtú jūnshì — Lǐ’s old place of exile. The hòují editor is unknown but the recension was already circulating by the time of Wénxiàn tōngkǎo, so it too is Sòng-period work.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Gūxī jūshì qiánjí 50 juǎn, hòují 20 juǎn, by Lǐ Zhīyí of the Sòng. Zhīyí, zì Duānshū. Sòng shǐ says of Cāngzhōu Wúdì 無棣; but Wú Fú’s preface says of Jǐngchéng 景城. By the Yuánfēng Jiǔyùzhì, Xīníng 6 (1073) Jǐngchéng was abolished into Lèshòu 樂壽 — so he must be of Lèshòu. The shǐ probably erred because Cāngzhōu’s Jǐngchéngjùn Hénghǎijūn jiédù in Zhìpíng 9 had moved its seat from Qīngchí to Wúdì — so erroneously took Jǐngchéng = Wúdì. Chén Zhènsūn’s Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí, going by his jùnwàng, calls him of Zhàojùn — also wrong.
Zhīyí passed jìnshì in Yuánfēng; in Yuányòu 1, was Shūmìyuàn biānxiūguān, Tōngpàn Yuánzhōu. In Yuánfú, jiān nèi xiāngyào kù (Inspector of the Inner Aromatic-Drug Storehouse). For having served in Sū Shì’s mùfǔ, was impeached by censor Shí Yù and dismissed. In Chóngníng 1, tíjǔ Hédōng chángpíng; for drafting Fàn Chúnrén’s yíbiǎo (posthumous memorial) too directly — offending Cài Jīng — was biānguǎn at Tàipíngzhōu.
The qiánjí 50 juǎn is what Qiándào dīnghài (1167) Wú Fú compiled and prefaced. Gūxī jūshì — Zhīyí’s southern-banishment self-given hào — hence used to name the collection. The hòují 20 juǎn — its compiler unknown; but Wénxiàn tōngkǎo already records it, so it too is from a Sòng person’s hand.
In the Yuányòu / Xīníng moment, Zhīyí’s wénzhāng stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhāng Lěi 張耒 張耒 and Qín Guān 秦觀 秦觀. Wáng Míngqīng’s Huīzhǔ hòulù praises his chǐdú (letters) as most exquisite, but his other works also all shénfēng jùnyì (spirit-keen-bold), often having Sū Shì’s yītǐ (one-form-aspect) — qìlèi jiànrǎn yǔ zhī huà yě (his qì-quality gradually-tinged in mutual transformation). His poetic reputation is slightly under Huáng [Tíngjiān] and Chén [Shīdào]. Critics, on the basis of Sū Shì’s inscription on his poetry — “Borrow good poetry to dissipate the long night; whenever I meet a fine spot I begin to cān chán (sit in Chán contemplation)” — took it as criticism of his being too pìsè (recondite-and-obstructed). Now examining the various poems in the collection — though pòlì (raw force) is insufficient to match Shì, generally they are xuānhuò lěiluò (open-and-rolling), in fact have no Jiāo Dǎo (Mèng Jiāo / Jiǎ Dǎo) gōují jiānkǔ (claw-thorn-painful) appearance. The annotators of Sū poetry probably fùhuì (forced-association) the words — not Shì’s original meaning. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 5th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Gūxī jūshì qiánjí and hòují together preserve substantial Sūmén secondary-network material. Lǐ Zhīyí’s career arc — from Yuánfēng jìnshì, through Yuányòu office under the SūHuáng circle, to Yuánfú / Chóngníng exile after the Fàn Chúnrén memorial — exemplifies the personal cost paid by Sū-circle figures during the Cài Jīng faction’s ascendency. The cí-poetry preserved here includes “Bǔ suànzǐ: Wǒ zhù Chángjiāng tóu” 卜算子・我住長江頭 — among the most anthologised lyrics of the Sòng period, sometimes attributed to Lǐ Zhīyí, sometimes contested.
The Sìkù tíyào’s two scholarly contributions are valuable: (1) the philological correction of Lǐ’s native place (Lèshòu, not Wúdì or Zhàojùn); (2) the careful re-reading of Sū Shì’s poem-inscription as praise rather than criticism — defending Lǐ against received critical opinion. Wú Fú’s role as editor — at the very same place (Tàipíngzhōu / Dāngtú) where Lǐ had been exiled — represents a deliberate gesture of literary rehabilitation half a century later.
Lifedates: c. 1048–c. 1117. The catalog’s fl. 1085–1102 reflects the active Yuányòu–Yuánfú phase. Composition bracket of the biéjí: 1080s (jìnshì) through Tàipíngzhōu exile (post-1102) and beyond.
Translations and research
- Egan, Ronald. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard, 1994. Background on the Sū-mén network.
- Hawes, Colin. The Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song. SUNY 2005. Treats Lǐ Zhī-yí.
- Sàng Wǔ-zhōng 桑武中, Lǐ Zhī-yí cí jiào-zhù (modern critical edition of the cí).
Other points of interest
- The Gūxī cí 姑溪詞 (lyrics) — sometimes circulated separately from the prose collection — preserves Lǐ’s most-anthologised work: “Wǒ zhù Chángjiāng tóu, jūn zhù Chángjiāng wěi; rìrì sī jūn bù jiàn jūn, gòng yǐn Chángjiāng shuǐ” — one of the canonical xiǎolìng of the late Northern Sòng.