Cánghǎi jūshì jí 藏海居士集
Cáng-hǎi (Hidden-Sea) Recluse Collection by 吳可 (撰)
About the work
Cánghǎi jūshì jí 藏海居士集 in 2 juǎn is the literary collection of Wú Kě 吳可 (fl. 1119–1170), an obscure late-Northern-Sòng / early-Southern-Sòng literary figure whose life-tracks the Sìkù editors reconstruct entirely from internal evidence in the collection. The title takes Wú’s hào Cánghǎi jūshì 藏海居士 (Hidden-Sea Recluse). Reconstituted from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn by the Sìkù editors. Wú’s Cánghǎi shīhuà 藏海詩話 (also reconstituted from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn; KR4h series) is preserved alongside.
Tiyao
Cánghǎi jūshì jí. Scattered-and-visible in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — titled by-the Sòng Wú Kě composed. [Wú] Kě’s career has-no examination; also unclear of-where. Examining the collection’s months-and-years should-be at the end of Xuānhé. His poetry has the line “yī guān lǎo Jīngshī” (one-officer aged in the capital); further has “guàguān yǎngzhuō” (hanging-up-the-cap to nourish-clumsiness) language — knowing he once held office in Biànjīng; further petitioned-for-retirement to leave. Further has lines “wǎngshí jiā Fēnníng; bǐnián kè Línrǔ” (in earlier-times the family was at Fēnníng; in recent-years a guest at Línrǔ) and “bìkòu Xiāngjiāng wài; yī Liú Rǔshuǐ páng” (avoiding-bandits beyond the Xiāng River; resting beside the LiúRǔ waters) — knowing he once-lived at Hóngzhōu; after Jiànyán, transferred-and-displaced between Chǔ and Yù.
Further [Wú] Kě separately has Cánghǎi shīhuà in 1 juǎn, also recorded in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. Much-and-much words discussing-poetry with Hán Jū. Within: there’s one entry on Tóng Démǐn’s Mùbǐ shī. Examining Hóng Mài’s Róngzhāi sānbǐ: records Línchuān’s Tóng Démǐn’s Húzhōutí Yán Lǔgōng cítáng shī one piece. That person was contemporary with Hóng Mài. Then Kě, after the southward-crossing, until Qiándào / Chúnxī, was still alive.
Within the collection, those whom he exchanged-poems-with: such as Wáng Ānzhōng, Zhào Lìngzhì, Mǐ Yǒurén — all also between Northern-and-Southern Sòng wénshì (literary gentlemen). The Yuányòu worthies’ fēngliú (style) had-not-yet-faded. Hence what-survives-of pieces-and-numbers, although not-many, but the dàzhì (general-trend) is qīngjǐng (clear-and-sharp), with Xiè Mài-brothers’ qìgé close. Only because his collection did-not-transmit, those-who-after speak-of Sòng-poetry then unable-to-know his surname-and-name.
Lì È’s Sòng shī jì shì searched-and-collected to 3,800 schools, and-also did-not-reach him. Then his chénhuì (obscurity-and-darkness) is already long. Today one-by-one gathered-and-edited, divided as 2 juǎn. With the shīhuà together-recorded — to-cause not-falling-into ultimate-perishing-and-burial. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month.
Abstract
The Cánghǎi jūshì jí in 2 juǎn is one of the most extreme cases of Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery: Wú Kě had been so completely lost from the bibliographic record that even Lì È’s exhaustive Sòng shī jì shì (3,800+ authors) had not reached him. The Sìkù editors’ biographical reconstruction is entirely internal: the late-Xuānhé Biànjīng office; the guàguān retirement; the Hóngzhōu / Fēnníng / Línrǔ / Liúrǔ residence-and-flight; the literary correspondence with Wáng Ānzhōng, Zhào Lìngzhì, and Mǐ Yǒurén. The terminus-ante-quem of Qiándào / Chúnxī (1170s) derives from the Tóng Démǐn cross-reference (Hóng Mài’s Róngzhāi sānbǐ).
The collection’s significance is therefore principally as a Yuányòu-style literary survival into the early Southern Sòng — comparable, per the Sìkù editors, to the qìgé of Xiè Mài’s brothers. The accompanying Cánghǎi shīhuà is independently valuable for its discussions with Hán Jū 韓駒 韓駒 on poetry.
CBDB id 35111 (the candidate Wú Kě entry) has no lifedates; estimated as fl. 1119 (Biànjīng office) – 1170 (Tóng Démǐn cross-reference) by internal evidence.
Translations and research
- 洪邁 Róng-zhāi sān-bǐ — preserves the Tóng Dé-mǐn cross-reference.
- 厲鶚 Sòng shī jì shì — early-Qīng exhaustive index that failed to include Wú Kě.
- No dedicated Western-language study located.
Other points of interest
- The Cánghǎi shīhuà (KR4h series) preserves the Hán Jū discussions and is the principal source for Wú Kě’s poetic theory. Read alongside this collection for the full corpus.