Suǒān yíjí 所安遺集
The Suǒ-ān Posthumous Collection by 陳泰 (撰)
About the work
A single-juǎn posthumous collection of Chén Tài 陳泰, zì Zhìtóng, biéhào Suǒān 所安 (whence the title). Native of Chálíng. Yányòu 2 (1315) jìnshì together with Ōuyáng Xuán 歐陽玄; remained in modest office as Lóngquán xiàn zhǔbù, dying without preferment. The collection was first assembled by his great-grandson Pǔ 朴 (whence the title’s yí “posthumous”); re-printed in the Chénghuà era by his láisūn Quán 銓. A jiùtí at the end of the juǎn warns “hòuduàn dùsǔn xī zāi” (“the back section is worm-eaten, alas”), indicating that even Pǔ’s compilation was already incomplete by the time of the Chénghuà re-cut.
Tiyao
Suǒān yíjí, 1 juǎn. By Chén Tài of the Yuán. Tài’s zì was Zhìtóng, biéhào Suǒān, a man of Chálíng (Chángshā). Yányòu 2 (1315) jìnshì. Appointed Lóngquán xiàn zhǔbù. Lingered in lesser office, soothing himself only with yínyǒng (poetic composition), and died in office. His writings did not coalesce into a collection during his lifetime; his great-grandson Pǔ began the collection — hence the title “yíbiān.” In mid-Chéng-huà his láisūn Quán et al. re-cut it; at the end of the juǎn is a six-character jiùtí: “the back section is worm-eaten, alas.” So even Pǔ’s compilation is not complete. Tài was recommended in the same year as Ōuyáng Xuán on the strength of his Tiānmǎ fù; the examiner’s píngyǔ runs “qìgǔ cānggǔ, yīnjié yōurán: tiānmén dòngkāi, tiānmǎ kěyǐ zìjiàn yǐ” — both fù and píngcí are preserved at the front of the collection. Afterward Ōuyáng Xuán rose to high office and his writings shook the world for a time; Tài’s collection in fact was nearly lost. Looking at his work, qīyán gēxíng makes up seven- or eight-tenths; the general qìgé is close to Lǐ Bái, but the line-construction often resembles Lǐ Hè 李賀 and Wēn Tíngyún 溫庭筠. Although he cannot avoid being too unrestrained — piāo (skimming) without liú (lingering) — and at times falls into cūguǎng (coarseness) — falling short of Ōuyáng Xuán’s fēngguī dàyǎ jùyǒu diǎnxíng “having decorum, greatness, and ancient model” — yet his cáiqì is wide-ranging and there are many remarkable phrases, plainly such as cannot be left to perish. Long obscured but in the end transmitted to the world — there is reason. Respectfully collated, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
A short and accidentally-preserved Yuán biéjí, surviving in single-juǎn form thanks to four-generation family transmission and the Chéng-huà-era family re-cut. The Tiānmǎ fù with its examiner’s evaluation, preserved at the head, is one of the few extant verbatim records of a Yuán-period xiāngshì evaluation. The textual condition of the juǎn-end note (“the back is worm-eaten”) fixes the collection as a witness to the fragility of small-author Yuán transmission. Chén’s style — qīyán gēxíng dominant, with Lǐ Bái’s qìgé and LǐWēn line-construction — is closer to the late-Táng decadent revival of Sòng Wú KR4d0498 than to the HànWèiTáng mainstream of YúYángFànJiē. Composition window: 1315 (year of jìnshì) to no later than Chén’s death, conventionally placed before 1340.
Translations and research
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1210.3, p543.