Yǎngwúzhāi jí 養吾齋集
The Yǎng-wú-zhāi (Nourishing-My[-self]-Studio) Collection by 劉將孫 (撰)
About the work
The 32-juàn collected works of Liú Jiāngsūn 劉將孫 (CBDB 27607, b. 1257), zì Shàngyǒu 尚友, native of Lúlíng 廬陵 (Jízhōu, Jiāngxī), the son of the great SòngYuán transition poetic critic and scholar Liú Chénwēng 劉辰翁 (1232–1297, hào Xūxī 須溪). Once served as Yánpíng jiàoguān 延平教官 (Yánpíng Education-Officer) and Líntīng shūyuàn shānzhǎng 臨汀書院山長 (Master of the Líntīng Academy). The collection is a Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction by the Sìkù editors — Zēng Yǐlì’s 曾以立 original preface mentions 40 juàn, but only fragments survived in MíngQīng booklists (Zhōu Nánruì’s 周南瑞 Tiānxià tóngwén jí preserved one Liú Jiāngsūn preface and one piece of prose; Gù Sìlì’s 顧嗣立 Yuán shī xuǎn preserved only one poem) until the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery yielded the present 32 juàn.
Tiyao
The Yǎngwúzhāi jí, 32 juàn, by Liú Jiāngsūn of the Yuán. Jiāngsūn, zì Shàngyǒu, [was] a Lúlíng man — son of [Liú] Chénwēng. Once served as Yánpíng jiàoguān and Líntīng shūyuàn shānzhǎng. [Liú] Chénwēng was already famous for prose at the end of the Sòng — when [literary] style was redundant-and-overflowing, [he] wished to correct [it] with qīngxīn yōujùn (fresh-and-new, deep-and-elegant) [diction]. Therefore his composed books often raise-up xiānqiǎo (slender-and-clever) [forms]; what [Liú Jiāngsūn] composed also mostly takes jiéqū (contorted-and-bent) [diction] as qí (extraordinary). Yet his pathway-opens-uniquely, also thereupon separately establishes his own school — not [to be] effaced. [Liú] Jiāngsūn, having been steeped in family-learning, considerably practiced [his] father’s style — therefore at the time [he] had the appellation XiǎoXū (Little Xūxī). Wú Chéng 吳澄, composing the preface to the collection, called him hàohàn yǎnyí (vast-and-flowing) — self-becoming the prose of Shàngyǒu — like Sū Xún having Sū Shì. Zēng Yǐlì’s preface then called [him] [whose] origin-and-source-self [is] yānguàn qiāngǔ (broad-mastering a thousand antiquities).
Now examining his Gǎnyù compositions — modelled on Chén Zǐáng and Zhāng Jiǔlíng — although sound-and-cadence are not the same, his jìtuō (entrusted-meanings) [are] deep-and-far, often having [philosophical-]名理 (named-principle). [His] jìntǐ also has many fine couplets. Xù, jì, bēi, zhì — various prose — although [they] suffer from being florid-and-abundant, with characters-and-phrases occasionally drifting-into gōují (hooked-and-brambly) [convolution], yet [in] narrating affairs winding-and-bending, [he is] good at speaking-of intentions-and-feelings — possessing his father’s shortcomings, [but] also not failing to possess his father’s strengths.
Also [in] the SòngYuán interim, [Liú Jiāngsūn] preserved records of various former-elders’ and surviving-people — like Hú Qiúyú and Niè Jìzhī’s learning-and-questions, Zhào Wén and 劉岳申’s prose-and-writing, Guō Rǔjiè and Tú Shìjùn’s filial-conduct — much not seen in other books — uniquely this collection can supply the whole story. [So it is] also considerably depended-on for transmission.
As for what [he says]: “Ōu[-yáng] and Sū[-shì] rose-up — common-and-changing reached its transformation; the YīLuò [Brothers, Chéng Hào and Chéng Yí] flourished — disputation-and-lecturing reached its purity. Subsequently, those who valued wén could not be expansive in principle; those who explained principle could not extend [it] to wén” — his words deeply hit the Sòng men’s defect. Also [he says]: “Shíwén’s essence is precisely the principle of gǔwén; Hán[-yù], Liǔ[-zōngyuán], Ōu[-yáng], Sū[-shì] all became famous by shíwén; afterwards [they composed] gǔwén as if to pick something readily-available [in their hand]. Truly there is a Huángfǔ Shí, Fán Shàoshù, Yǐn Zhū, Mù Xiū — these various schools — could they have lacked jùn (eminent) characters [and] marvellous phrases, deep feelings [and] bitter thoughts? Yet what [keeps them from] being matched with HánŌu [is that] their shíwén had something not-up-to [par] — therefore so.” His words are particularly sufficient to puncture the defect of gāoyǔ qígǔ (high-talk extraordinary-ancient) and yet not-being-able-to follow-the-text-and-flow-the-words.
Although what he composed does not entirely fulfil his words, [we] cannot but call it a comprehensive discussion. According-to Zēng Yǐlì’s preface [the collection had] 40 juàn; from the Míng era onward [it] was rarely seen [in] preservation-by-storage. Only Zhōu Nánruì’s Tiānxià tóngwén jí’s head [has] a Jiāngsūn preface, one piece, and within [is] recorded his prose, one piece; Gù Sìlì’s Yuán shī xuǎn records only one poem of his — [it] is generally long-since lost. Now [we] gather what the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn contains and edit [into] 32 juàn, to prepare-as-one-form of wénzhāng — also [in the spirit of] Ōuyáng Xiū’s incidental thinking of snails-and-clams.
Respectfully collated, ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief-Compiler Officers Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅; Chief-Collation Officer Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The principal literary monument of Liú Jiāngsūn (CBDB 27607, b. 1257), the son and continuator of the great SòngYuán transition critic Liú Chénwēng 劉辰翁 — to whom he is paired by his Yuán contemporaries as XiǎoXū 小須 (Little Xūxī, after his father’s hào Xūxī 須溪). Liú Jiāngsūn carries forward his father’s program of late-Sòng literary reform: the rejection of redundant Southern-Sòng prose in favour of qīngxīn yōujùn (fresh-and-new, deep-and-elegant) diction. The collection’s principal critical statement — preserved in the Tíyào — is Liú’s diagnosis of the Sòng-period split between literary (wén) and philosophical (lǐxué) traditions: “Those who valued wén could not be expansive in principle; those who explained principle could not extend [it] to wén” — anticipating the late-Yuán synthesis of literary and Neo-Confucian sensibility. Liú is also a critic of the late-Sòng shíwén (examination-prose) tradition, arguing that the great TángSòng prose-masters succeeded because their shíwén training was sound.
The collection preserves unique biographical material on SòngYuán loyalist circles — Hú Qiúyú 胡求魚, Niè Jìzhī 聶濟之, Zhào Wén 趙文, 劉岳申 (Liú Yuèshēn), Guō Rǔjiè 郭汝介, Tú Shìjùn 涂世俊 — making the Yǎngwúzhāi jí a major secondary source for SòngYuán transition literary history. Wú Chéng’s 吳澄 preface to the original 40-juàn edition draws the Sū Xún / Sū Shì analogy: Liú Jiāngsūn extends his father’s literary work without becoming a mere imitator. Composition window: post-Sòng-fall (after 1280) through the early 14th century.
Translations and research
- Sòng-shǐ and Yuán-shǐ do not have biographies of Liú Jiāng-sūn. Principal biographical material is in the prefaces preserved with the Yǎng-wú-zhāi jí and in 劉辰翁’s family record.
- Standard Yuán-literature reference works treat Liú briefly.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ description of the Yǎngwúzhāi jí recovery as “Ōuyáng Xiū’s incidental thinking of snails-and-clams” — a reference to a remark by Ōuyáng Xiū about the value of preserving minor literary fragments — is a characteristic Sìkù editorial-philosophical aside on the principle of preserving Yuán-period literary remnants regardless of independent literary merit.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1199.1, p1.
- CBDB person 27607 (Liú Jiāngsūn)