Dúshū hòu 讀書後
After-Readings by 王世貞 (撰)
About the work
Wáng Shìzhēn’s collection of dúshū hòu (after-reading colophon-essays) — short critical essays attached to specific works the author had read. The collection is in 8 juǎn. It had a complex transmission: originally only 4 juǎn, the Dúshū hòu was not included in Wáng’s Sìbù gǎo KR4e0201 or Xùgǎo and consequently was lost. Wáng’s nephew Wáng Shìqí 王士騏 recovered a damaged cánběn (mutilated copy) yú màitáng zhě — “from a sugar-vendor [using the paper]” — and copied and cut it as Fùjí (Appendix). Later Wújiāng Xǔ Gōng 許恭 supplemented this with: (i) one juǎn of shūhòu essays drawn from the Sìbù gǎo; (ii) one juǎn of Buddhist-text dújīng essays drawn from the Xùgǎo; (iii) two juǎn of Daoist-text dújīng essays drawn from the Xùgǎo; consolidating into 8 juǎn with Chén Jìrú 陳繼儒 preface. The collection is in critical-literary terms one of the most revealing of Wáng’s late literary tastes — Zhōu Liànggōng 周亮工’s Shūyǐng records that Wáng first did not like Sū Shì’s prose, late-in-life loved it; at the point of death there was still a copy of Sū’s prose at his bedside. The 8 juǎn contain repeated WángSū dialogues — Wáng’s late prose imitates Sū without trace of the early QínHàn archaism. The collection also contains the often-cited gé Lǐ Dōngyáng yuèfǔ and gé Guī Yǒuguāng jí — xīnpíng qìhé (heart-calm and breath-at-peace) — at odds with Wáng’s earlier high-handed fúlùn style.
Tiyao
Dúshū hòu in 8 juǎn — by Wáng Shìzhēn of the Míng. Shìzhēn’s Sìbù gǎo is separately recorded. This book originally only 4 juǎn — was what the Sìbù gǎo and Xùgǎo did not contain; consequently sànyì (scattered-and-lost). His nephew Shìqí obtained a cánběn (damaged copy) from a sugar-vendor; copied-and-cut it; named it Fùjí. Later Wújiāng Xǔ Gōng further took from the Sìbù gǎo’s shūhòu prose to make 1 juǎn; from the Xùgǎo’s dú Fójīng prose 1 juǎn; from the dú Dàojīng prose 2 juǎn — combining into 8 juǎn — re-cut it. Chén Jìrú prefaced it. Zhōu Liànggōng’s Shūyǐng records: Shìzhēn at-first did not like Sūwén (Sū Shì’s prose); late then hào zhī (loved it); línmò (about-to-die) at-time, the chuángtóu (bed-head) still had one Sūwén edition. Now viewing this work: often with Sū Shì biànnán (debating-difficulty); and yet his prose fǎnfù tiáochàng (back-and-forth orderly-fluent) also all lèi Shì (like Shì) — no more móQín fǎngHàn zhī xí (imitating-Qín, modeling-Hàn habit). His gé Lǐ Dōngyáng yuèfǔ and gé Guī Yǒuguāng jí — xīnpíng qìhé (heart-calm, breath-harmonious) — also at-odds with his lifetime chílùn (holding-discourse). Shìzhēn once for Yǒuguāng composed xiàngzàn (portrait-praise): “Fēng xíng shuǐ shàng, huàn wéi wénzhāng; fēng dìng bō xī” (“wind moves over water, transformed into prose; wind stilled, waves cease…”).
Abstract
The Dúshū hòu is the principal documentary record of Wáng Shìzhēn’s late conversion — from the strict Hòu Qī Zǐ archaist position toward the more flexible Sòng-style prose (especially Sū Shì) and toward an explicit appreciation of his sometime rival Guī Yǒuguāng (whose portrait-praise Wáng eventually composed: “Fēng xíng shuǐ shàng, huàn wéi wénzhāng; fēng dìng bō xī” — “wind moves over water, transformed into prose; wind stilled, waves cease…”). The textual transmission story — Wáng’s nephew recovering a mutilated copy from a sugar-vendor, and Xǔ Gōng supplementing with material extracted from the Sìbù gǎo and Xùgǎo — is one of the more remarkable Míng biéjí recovery narratives. The collection is essential for any serious study of Wáng Shìzhēn’s critical evolution.
The 4-genre internal structure of the consolidated 8-juǎn: (i) the recovered original 4-juǎn of dúshū hòu general; (ii) shūhòu from Sìbù gǎo; (iii) dúFójīng from Xùgǎo; (iv) dúDàojīng from Xùgǎo. The last two are especially valuable as late-Míng jūshì-literati assessments of Buddhist and Daoist scriptures.
Date bracket: 1547 (Wáng’s jìnshì) — 1590 (death). The recovered 4 juǎn are pre-1590 in composition; the Xùgǎo-derived 4 juǎn are late-life pieces (1580s).
Translations and research
- See Wáng Shì-zhēn entry generally; secondary literature treats Dú-shū hòu as a critical companion to Yì-yuàn zhī-yán.
- Chén Jì-rú 陳繼儒’s preface in the WYG source is itself a substantial document of late-Míng critical commentary on Wáng Shì-zhēn’s evolution.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The portrait-praise for Guī Yǒuguāng — Fēng xíng shuǐ shàng, huàn wéi wénzhāng; fēng dìng bō xī… (“wind moves over water, transformed into prose; wind stilled, waves cease…“) — quoted in the tíyào but cut off there — has been one of the most-discussed WángGuī critical statements in subsequent Chinese literary history.