Shèzhāi jí 涉齋集
The Shè-zhāi (Wading-Studio) Collection by 許綸 (撰)
About the work
Shèzhāi jí 涉齋集 in 18 juǎn is the Sìkù recension of the literary collection of Xǔ Jízhī 許及之 (the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn records this collection under the name Xǔ Lún — see below) — zì Shēnfǔ 深甫, native of Yǒngjiā (Wēnzhōu, modern Zhèjiāng). Jìnshì of Lóngxīng 1 (1163). Career: rose under Guāngzōng / Níngzōng to Zōngzhèng bù, Zhī Shūmìyuàn shì (i.e., Yòufǔ in the Sòng usage). The Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì records Xǔ Jízhī wénjí in 30 juǎn + Shèzhāi kègǎo in 9 juǎn; Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjízhì records Xǔ yòufǔ Shèzhāi jí in 30 juǎn — all consistent with the present collection. The Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s attribution to “Xǔ Lún” rather than “Xǔ Jízhī” is an anomaly: the Sìkù editors propose Xǔ may have changed his name from Lún to Jízhī (a not-uncommon Sòng-era practice not always recorded in the official histories). The collection’s interest is documentary: it preserves Xǔ’s shǐ Jīn (embassy to Jin) poetry-cycle, all individually present, marked in Níngzōng’s Shàoxī 4 (1193) 6th month. Xǔ’s literary genealogy — visible in his Dú Wáng Wéngōng shī — is in the Wáng Ānshí 王安石 admiration-line.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Shèzhāi jí — the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn titles “Xǔ Lún composed”. The collection’s Wáng Huìshū huìtīngyǔtú shī xù self-calls Yǒngjiā rén; jìnshì of Lóngxīng 1 (1163); held office to Zhī Shūmìyuàn shì — agreeing with the Yìwénzhì recording Xǔ Jízhī wénjí in 30 juǎn and the Shèzhāi kègǎo in 9 juǎn; the Yìwénzhì lists him as Yǒngjiā rén — agreeing with the [Wáng Huìshū] preface’s self-statement Yǒngjiā rén. Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjízhì records Xǔ yòufǔ Shèzhāi jí in 30 juǎn; the Sòng called Shūmìshǐ “right fǔ” — agreeing with [Xǔ] Jízhī’s běnzhuàn office of Zhī Shūmìyuàn — also consistent. So this collection should be Jízhī’s composition. Further: the Sòng shǐ Níngzōng běnjì: Shàoxī 4 (1193) 6th month, dispatched Xǔ Jízhī to congratulate the Jin sovereign on his birthday; the Jīn shǐ Jiāopìnbiǎo also same. Now the collection’s shǐ Jīn poems are all individually present; the běnzhuàn says Jízhī once was Zōngzhèng bù; the collection also has the Tí Yùdiésuǒ bìjiān shī — so this collection’s emerging from Jízhī is even more zhèngzuǒ záorán (proof-evidence solid). The Yǒnglè dàdiǎn heading — we do not know what its evidence is. Perhaps Jízhī’s original name was Lún; the shǐ incidentally fails to record the name-change?
This collection has no transmitted běn in the world. We now from the surviving fragments edit-together as 18 juǎn. Looking at his Dú Wáng Wéngōng shī juéjù saying: “Prose serving the world as model-and-norm / jīngshù on the era brought up shìchóu (era’s enemy) / In youth read Gōng’s poetry, head already-white / Only seems unable-to-do — phrasing wind-lingers” — we know bànxiāng (incense-stem-burning, devoted-admiration) was for Wáng Ānshí. Ānshí’s prose平挹 (level-equal-to) ŌuSū; his poetry within Northern-Sòng houses, his name slightly behind — but his early-years’ duànliàn róngzhù (forging-and-tempering, melting-and-casting) work was very deep; the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ cites Sīmǎ Guāng’s words calling [Wáng’s] late-years’ compositions “huá miào jīngshēn” (flowering-marvelous and refined-deep) — by no means empty praise. This collection though xiàbǐ (lay-down-the-brush) somewhat easily, unable qīng chū yú lán (the green emerge from the indigo) — yet its qìtǐ gāoliàng (spirit-style high-and-bright), essentially lángláng yíngěr (clinking-and-clear filling-the-ear) — surpassing far the late-Sòng Jiānghú shīpài engaging in kèhuà suǒxiè (carving-and-engraving, trifling-and-tiny). Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 3rd month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Xǔ Jízhī (sometimes Yǒnglè dàdiǎn records as Xǔ Lún — an apparent name-change not noted in the Sòng shǐ) is one of the more substantively-remembered late-Southern-Sòng senior officials of the WāngĀnshí poetic tradition. The Sìkù editors find his career double-confirmed by Sòng shǐ (his 1193 embassy to Jin to congratulate the Jin sovereign on his birthday is attested in the Níngzōng běnjì and the Jīn shǐ Jiāopìnbiǎo); his collection preserves the embassy-poetry-cycle in full. The collection’s Dú Wáng Wéngōng shī explicitly establishes Xǔ’s literary lineage in the Wáng Ānshí admiration tradition — an unusual late-Southern-Sòng position, given the Lǐxué mainstream’s hostility to Wáng. The Sìkù editors approve the position, holding that Xǔ’s qìtǐ gāoliàng prose-style surpasses the carving-and-engraving prose of the late-Sòng Jiānghú school.
The transmission was complete in Jiāo Hóng’s late-Míng Jīngjízhì (30 juǎn); subsequently lost; recovered by the Sìkù editors from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn in 18 juǎn. The dating bracket: 1163 (Xǔ’s jìnshì year) through 1209 (his death year per CBDB id 35278 — wait, that is 王阮; for Xǔ Lún CBDB does not have firm dates). Xǔ Jízhī’s death is generally fixed at 1209.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The WángĀnshí admiration as documented in the Dú Wáng Wéngōng shī juéjù is one of the few explicit late-Southern-Sòng poetic-genealogical statements positioning a senior official outside the Yuányòu (SūHuáng) and Jiāngxī mainstream. The Sìkù editors’ attempt to resolve the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn name-attribution puzzle — Xǔ Lún vs. Xǔ Jízhī — by hypothesizing an unnoted name-change is a typical late-Qián-lóng-era methodological move.