梁谿遺稿

Liángxī yígǎo 梁谿遺稿

The Liáng-xī Surviving Drafts by 尤袤 (撰), 尤侗 (輯)

About the work

Liángxī yígǎo 梁谿遺稿 in 2 juǎn is the surviving fragment of the literary collection of Yóu Mào 尤袤 (1127–1194, zì Yánzhī 延之, hào Suìchū jūshì 遂初居士, of Liángxī / Wúxī 無錫), one of the four great Southern-Sòng poets (NánSòng sìdàjiā 南宋四大家: Yóu, Yáng, Fàn, Lù — Yáng Wànlǐ 楊萬里, Fàn Chéngdà 范成大, Lù Yóu 陸游). The original Suìchū xiǎogǎo 遂初小藁 in 60 juǎn + Nèiwàizhì 30 juǎn (per his Sòng shǐ biography) and the Liángxī jí 梁谿集 in 50 juǎn (per Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí) were both lost when his grandson Yóu Zǎo’s 尤藻 Xīnān re-cutting was burned by war. The present 2-juǎn recension was compiled in the early Kāngxī era (after 1670) by Yóu Tóng 尤侗 (1618–1704, Hànlínyuàn shìjiǎng, of Chángzhōu — the Wújùn branch of the Liángxī Yóu lineage), who held himself a descendant of Yóu Mào. Lì È 厲鶚’s Sòngshī jìshì draws principally on this recension. The collection is preceded by Yóu Tóng’s preface (with Zhū Yízūn’s commendation), establishing the principal modern reception of Yóu Mào.

Tiyao

The Sìkù tíyào: the Liángxī yígǎo in 2 juǎn was composed by Yóu Mào of the Sòng. Mào has the Suìchūtáng shūmù KR2n0003, already separately listed. The Sòng shǐ Mào biography records his works as Suìchū xiǎogǎo in 60 juǎn + Nèiwàizhì in 30 juǎn; Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records Liángxī jí in 50 juǎn — both long lost.

In the Kāngxī era, the Hànlínyuàn shìjiǎng of Chángzhōu, Yóu Tóng 尤侗, held himself Mào’s descendant and gathered the surviving poems, edited as this běn — only one part in a hundred. Lì È composing the Sòngshī jìshì takes this běn as principal, separately gathering the Huáimín one piece from the Sāncháo Běiméng huìbiān, the Gēngzǐsuì chú qián yī rì yóu Máoshān one piece from the Máoshān zhì, the Yóu Zhānggōngdòng one piece from the Jīngxī wàijì, the Chóngdēng Dǒuyětíng one piece from the Yángzhōufǔ zhì, and the Tí Mǐ Yuánhuī XiāoXiāng tú two pieces from the Yùshì shūhuà tíbǎ jì; and from the Hòucūn shīhuà the four lost couplets — but the “Last year Jiāngnán famine” two couplets are precisely the language of the Huáimín yáo — front-and-back duplicate emerging — perhaps because of fragmented gathering, error of failure-to-check; we know his loss is severe and cannot be further gathered.

Fāng Huí once composed a colophon to Mào’s poetry, calling it: “Since the Restoration, when discussing poetry one must say Yóu, Yáng, Fàn, Lù. Chéngzhāi (Yáng Wànlǐ) frequently produces strange-and-sharp; Fàngwēng (Lù Yóu) is good at sad-and-stout; Gōng (Yóu) and Shíhú (Fàn Chéngdà) — guānmiǎn pèiyù (cap-and-tassel + jade-pendants) measure-Sāo and gentle-elegant” — so Mào in his time stood on equal footing with Yáng Wànlǐ, Lù Yóu, and Fàn Chéngdà, in matched-team speed. Now of the three [other] houses, all have complete běn, and Mào’s collection alone is buried-and-lost.

The transmission of literature also has its luck and lucklessness. But examining what now survives — broken sections and fragmentary lapidaries — still suffice to stand in the rank of the three houses; by reason of being seldom seen they are particularly precious; treasured even more — surely they cannot be discarded as remnants? Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 12th month, respectfully collated.

The Yóu Tóng preface (translated): “After the southern crossing, those of equal poetic fame totaled four — Yóu, Xiāo, Fàn, Lù — Yáng Tíngxiù (Yáng Wànlǐ) so styled them. Qiānyán (Xiāo Dézǎo) studied poetry under Zēng Jī Jífǔ; transmitted to Jiāng Kuí Yáozhāng. At the time Liú Qián also acclaimed him as Chéngzhāi’s match. And Fāng Wànlǐ said his poetry — bitter-hard tumbling and at extreme of skill — had he not died early, Chéngzhāi would still come below him. The poetry-houses thus extolled him. But his poetry was carved at Yǒngzhōu; long years scattered and lost. And Yóu Gōng’s Liángxī jí in 50 juǎn, Gōng’s grandson Zǎo carved at Xīnān — burned in war fires; hence FànLù poetry circulated widely, but Yóu Gōng’s compositions transmitted few. Xiāo’s surviving few — only several pieces. Later commentators thus reset: Yóu, Yáng, Fàn, Lù — and Xiāo grew more buried; some could not even cite his surname. The Hànlínyuàn jiǎntǎo Xītáng xiānshēng (i.e., Yóu Tóng himself, hào Xītáng), from Liángxī moved to Wú, was indeed the Wénjiǎngōng’s descendant; fearful that gōng’s poetry-prose was rarely transmitted in the world, he then transcribed-and-extracted what survived, made into 2 juǎn, set on the carving block to circulate, attaching his contemporary friend Zhū Yízūn of Xiùshuǐ to compose a preface. I [the Sìkù editor] have selected its general outline and written it on the cover-leaf. Xiāo, of Xījiāng (Jiāngxī); huì Dézǎo, zì Dōngfū, alternative zì Qiānyán.”

Abstract

Yóu Mào’s Liángxī yígǎo is one of the most-reduced of all Southern-Sòng biéjí. The original 60-juǎn Suìchū xiǎogǎo and the 50-juǎn Liángxī jí (the standard mid-Sòng recension) were both lost when his grandson Yóu Zǎo’s Xīnān re-cutting was burned by war. The early-Kāngxī (Yóu Tóng, c. 1670) compilation rescued only “one part in a hundred” — chiefly the surviving poetry from miscellaneous sources. Even Lì È’s Sòngshī jìshì added only six further pieces from regional sources.

The literary-historical interest is significant despite the small scale: Yóu Mào is one of the four great Southern-Sòng poets (the NánSòng sìdàjiā) — alongside Yáng Wànlǐ, Fàn Chéngdà, and Lù Yóu — whose collections survive complete; Yóu’s near-total disappearance is a striking case of the asymmetric loss-and-survival of Southern-Sòng biéjí. The Sìkù editors note that the surviving fragments — particularly the Huáimín yáo (Folk-song of the Huai People) — still suffice to “stand in the rank of the three houses.” Fāng Huí’s evaluation — “guānmiǎn pèiyù in Sāo-and-Yǎ measure, gentle-elegant” — is the canonical Yuán-era reading; Yáng Wànlǐ originally grouped Yóu with Xiāo Dézǎo (Qiānyán), Fàn Chéngdà, and Lù Yóu, with Yóu replacing Xiāo only in the post-Sòng reception when Xiāo’s collection was lost.

The dating bracket: 1148 (Yóu’s jìnshì year — corrected from 1147 in some sources) through 1194 (his death year). The notBefore and notAfter may be too tight; many of the surviving pieces have no internal dating.

Translations and research

• Schmidt, J. D. 1976. Yang Wan-li. Twayne. Treats Yóu Mào in the Sì-dà-jiā canon.
• Cherniack, Susan. 1994. “Book Culture and Textual Transmission in Sung China.” HJAS 54.1. Treats Yóu’s library and the Suì-chū-táng catalog.
• 程章燦. 2010. Sòng-dài Yóu-shì jiā-zú yán-jiū. Treats the Liáng-xī Yóu lineage including Mào and Tóng.

Other points of interest

The transmission line of the collection — Sòng original (Yǒngzhōu carving and Yóu Zǎo’s Xīnān re-cutting) → both lost in war → early-Qīng (Yóu Tóng, Kāngxī) reassembly from miscellaneous sources — is paradigmatic of the asymmetric biéjí survival pattern, in which the four poets of the Sìdàjiā survive in complete corpora (Yáng, Lù, Fàn) or fragments (Yóu, Xiāo) determined by the chance that a descendant or local scholar was active during the early Míng or early Qīng book-recovery operations.

Links

• You Mao (Wikipedia)
• Sòng shǐ j. 389 (You Mào biography).