Lùzǐyú jí 陸子餘集
Lù Zǐ-yú Collection by 陸粲 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Lù Càn 陸粲 (1494–1551), zì Zǐyú 子餘, alternate zì Jùnmíng 浚明, of Chángzhōu 長洲 (Sūzhōu, Jiāngsū). Lù read at Zhēnshān 貞山 and was known as Zhēnshān xiānshēng. Jiājìng 5 (1526, 丙戌) jìnshì; via Hànlín, transferred to Gōngkē jǐshìzhōng. He memorialized contemporary affairs — was xià zhàoyù tíngzhàng (sent to imperial prison and tíngzhàng); again memorialized impeaching Zhāng Cōng and Guì È — was demoted to Dūyún yìchéng (Guìzhōu). Eventually he reached Jiāngxī Yǒngxīn xiàn zhīxiàn, then retired in filial duty. The 8-juǎn WYG recension is by genre: prefaces and records (j. 1); biographies, stelae and tomb-tablets (j. 2); tomb-inscriptions (j. 3); xíngzhuàng (life-records) and sacrificial prose (j. 4); memorials (j. 5–6); miscellaneous prose; poetry. Lù was xiáng yú jīngshǐ xùngǔ (detailed in Classics-history exegesis), particularly familiar with current administrative precedents (zhǎnggù); he was the disciple of Wáng Áo 王鏊 and inherited his prose technique.
Tiyao
Lùzǐyú jí in 8 juǎn — by Lù Càn of the Míng. Càn, zì Zǐyú, alternate zì Jùnmíng, native of Chángzhōu. Reading at Zhēnshān, called Zhēnshān xiānshēng. Jiājìng bǐngxū (1526) jìnshì; from Hànlín transferred-appointed Gōngkē jǐshìzhōng. He sent up a memorial discussing current affairs — was xià zhàoyù tíngzhàng. Again sent up a memorial impeaching Zhāng Cōng and Guì È; demoted to Dūyún yìchéng. Somewhat later moved to Jiāngxī Yǒngxīn xiàn zhīxiàn. Soon he begged the zhōngyǎng (terminal-care, of his parents) and was retired. Càn was xiáng yú jīngshǐ xùngǔ, yóu shú dāngdài zhǎnggù (“detailed in Classics-history exegesis, especially familiar with current-dynasty precedents”). He received his studies from Wáng Áo, inheriting his prose technique. Xú Shíxíng 徐時行 said his prose chūrù Zuǒshì Sīmǎ Qiān (moves in-and-out between Zuǒshì and Sīmǎ Qiān) — beyond WèiJìn to be discussed. Péng Nián 彭年 held that he zhuān fǎ Mǎ Bān (exclusively models on Sīmǎ Qiān and Bān Gù) — xióngshēn yǎjiàn (imposing-deep and elegant-firm) — what the Eastern Hàn houses cannot reach. Both praised excessively. Only Huáng Zōngxī 黃宗羲 said: “Zhēnshān’s prose is xiùměi píngshùn (graceful-beautiful, even-smooth), not raising waves-and-billows — got mostly from Wáng Wénquè (i.e. Wáng Áo) — surely a zhīliú (side-branch) of the Ōuyáng (i.e. Ōuyáng Xiū) house.” This is néng dé qí shí (able to get its truth). Compiled and presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Lù Càn of Chángzhōu is one of the more interesting Jiā-jìng-era gǔwén prose writers — a disciple of Wáng Áo 王鏊 and a documented (if minor) link in the Sūzhōu chain of the Ōuyáng Xiū prose tradition that fed into the later Guī Yǒuguāng school. His memorial against Zhāng Cōng and Guì È (the rites-faction enforcers) and his subsequent demotion to Dūyún in Guìzhōu are typical of the Jiājìng anti-rites-faction generation; he also wrote on Classics-history exegesis and current-dynasty zhǎnggù (administrative precedents). The Sìkù tíyào’s most reliable assessment is Huáng Zōngxī’s — “Zhēnshān’s prose is graceful-and-even, not raising waves — a side-branch of the Ōuyáng house” — which the tíyào endorses against the over-praise of Xú Shíxíng and Péng Nián.
Date bracket: 1526 (Jiājìng 5 jìnshì) — 1551 (death). Catalog meta and CBDB 34662 agree on 1494–1551.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
- Míng shǐ j. 206 — Lù Càn main biography.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s endorsement of Huáng Zōngxī’s evaluation over the contemporary over-praise of Xú Shíxíng and Péng Nián is a methodological gesture worth noting: the editors explicitly prefer the Qīng-early míngrú yímín judgement over the Sūzhōu contemporaries’ courtesy verdicts.