Yǎnzhōu sìbù gǎo 弇州四部稿
Yǎn-zhōu Manuscripts in Four Divisions by 王世貞 (撰)
About the work
The principal literary collection of Wáng Shìzhēn 王世貞 (1526–1590), zì Yuánměi 元美, hào Fèngzhōu 鳳洲 / Yǎnzhōu shānrén 弇州山人, of Tàicāng 太倉 (Jiāngsū). The 174-juǎn Sìbù gǎo — accompanied by the 207-juǎn Xùgǎo 續稿 — represents the consolidated biéjí of the leading mid-to-late-Míng literary, historical, and critical scholar; the title’s Sìbù (Four Divisions) refers to (i) fùbù (rhapsody division); (ii) shībù (poetry division); (iii) wénbù (prose division); (iv) shuōbù (treatise division). The shuōbù of the principal manuscript contains seven works: Zhájì nèipiān, Zhájì wàipiān, Zuǒ yì, Duǎncháng, Yìyuàn zhīyán, Zhīyán fùlù, Wǎnwěi yúbiān. The Xùgǎo has only the fù, shī, wén divisions — no shuōbù. (Wáng’s other works — the Yǎnzhōu wàijí, Gū bùgū lù, etc. — are separately recorded in Shǐbù.) The principal Sìbù gǎo was cut during Wáng’s fǔYúnyáng (Pacification of Yúnyáng) tenure; the Xùgǎo was hand-edited by Wáng after retirement and entrusted to his youngest son Jùn 駿, with the Chóngzhēn-era cutting by his grandson finally giving the work to the world.
Tiyao
Yǎnzhōu sìbù gǎo in 174 juǎn, Xùgǎo in 207 juǎn — by Wáng Shìzhēn of the Míng. Shìzhēn’s Yǎnzhōu wàijí, Gū bùgū lù, and other works are already recorded in Shǐbù. This is his composed biéjí. “Four divisions” means: fùbù, shībù, wénbù, shuōbù. The principal manuscript’s shuōbù has 7 kinds: Zhájì nèipiān, Zhájì wàipiān, Zuǒ yì, Duǎncháng, Yìyuàn zhīyán, Zhīyán fùlù, Wǎnwěi yúbiān. The Xùgǎo has only fù, shī, wén three divisions, no shuōbù. Shìzhēn and Lǐ Pānlóng were of equal fame, but his talent actually exceeded him. At the time, Lóudōng (Tàicāng, Wáng’s seat) and Lìxià (Lǐ Pānlóng’s seat) xiá zhǔ wénméng (“playfully co-ruled the literary alliance”); those who fèngzhī (followed-and-revered) took them as yùlǜ jīnkē (jade-rules and golden-articles); those who dǐzhī (slandered) took them as chéngēng tǔfàn (dust-broth and earth-meal). Rises-and-falls successive-and-changing, slander-and-praise alternating-rising — the wényuán fēnnáo (literary garden turbid-and-noisy) — finally without fixed verdict. Essentially, Shìzhēn at first had yìlùn tàigāo (opinions too high), shēngmíng tàizǎo (fame too early), shèngqì běnyǒng (full-energy churning-rushing) — no leisure to jiǎndiǎn (examine-check) himself deeply — leading to repeated yíhǎinèikǒushí (gave-empire-mouth-grounds).
Once the times moved on, the discussion settled. Those who once attacked Shìzhēn’s weakness — turning to be xiānzè pòsuì (slender-narrow, broken-and-scattered) — have long been zhòng suǒ tuòqì (thoroughly spat-out by the masses). And students who lùn dúshū zhǒngzǐ (“discuss the reading-seed”) ultimately cannot but xīnzhé (heart-bowed) before Yǎnzhōu. This is — although his talent is enough to zìlèi (self-encumber) — what makes him unerasable is precisely here. Today the book is fully extant; even though xiáyú záchén (flaws-and-merits are mixed in display), to raise the jùbò (great chiefs) of one age — also ultimately cannot drop Shìzhēn for another. The Sìbù zhènggǎo was Shìzhēn’s fǔ Yúnyáng (Yúnyáng pacification) tenure’s cutting; the Xùgǎo — Shìzhēn’s qǐxiū (retirement)-after — hand-collected his late-year works and entrusted to his youngest son Jùn. By Chóngzhēn times, his grandson at-first cut-them-for-circulation. Compiled and presented in the 11th month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
The Yǎnzhōu sìbù gǎo is the principal biéjí of mid-to-late-Míng’s most prolific and influential literary, historical, and critical scholar. The Sìkù tíyào’s verdict is unusually well-poised: Wáng Shìzhēn — though paired in fame with Lǐ Pānlóng — exceeded Lǐ in talent; his early high-handedness gave critics ample grounds, but his eventual unerasability derives from the depth of his learning and the breadth of the biéjí. The four-divisional architecture (fù, shī, wén, shuō) is itself a deliberate WángShìzhēn editorial innovation that brings shuōbù (treatises) — including the canonical critical work Yìyuàn zhīyán — inside the biéjí rather than separating it as an independent work.
The four shuōbù works of the principal Sìbù gǎo — especially Yìyuàn zhīyán — are central documents of Míng literary criticism. The Zhájì and Zuǒ yì are historical-philological. The Wǎnwěi yúbiān is a varied-content biji (notebook). The Xùgǎo deliberately omits the shuōbù — perhaps because by the time of late-life retirement, Wáng’s most important shuō works had already entered the zhènggǎo.
Textual history: Sìbù gǎo cut during Wáng’s fǔ Yúnyáng tenure (c. 1577); Xùgǎo hand-edited post-retirement (post-1589), entrusted to his son Wáng Jùn, finally cut by Wáng’s grandson during the Chóngzhēn era.
Date bracket: 1547 (Wáng’s jìnshì year) — 1590 (death). The Xùgǎo cutting extends the composition to 1590; the Chóngzhēn cutting is the terminus ad quem for circulation.
Translations and research
- Yim Lawrence C. H., The Poet-Historian Qian Qianyi (London: Routledge, 2009) — extensive engagement with Wáng Shì-zhēn’s historiographical and literary inheritance.
- Hans van Ess, “Wang Shizhen on the Historiography of His Time,” Oriens Extremus — for the historical biéjí.
- Míng shǐ j. 287 — Wáng Shì-zhēn Wén-yuàn biography.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: full entry on Wáng Shì-zhēn.
- Hung-lam Chu, “Wáng Shì-zhēn and the Yì-yuàn zhī-yán,” various studies.
- Stephen Owen, ed., The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, vol. 2.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The textual-historiographical concept of biéjí organization as Sìbù (Four Divisions) — applying the 經史子集 Sìbù concept within a single biéjí (with shuōbù as the zǐbù analogue) — is Wáng Shìzhēn’s deliberate editorial innovation and was widely imitated in late-Míng and Qīng biéjí.