Dúshūzhāi ǒu cún gǎo 讀書齋偶存稿
Casually-Preserved Drafts from the Reading-Studio by 葉方藹 (撰)
About the work
A 4-juan late-life collection of the poetry of 葉方藹 Yè Fāngǎi (1629–1682, zì Zǐjí 子吉, hào Rènān 訒菴, posthumously Wénmǐn 文敏), one of the leading early-Qīng Hànlín court-poets and confidential adviser to Kāngxī. Jìnshì of Shùnzhì 16 (1659, third in the first class — tànhuā 探花); rose to Hànlínyuàn xuéshì concurrently Lǐbù shìláng with the shàngshū title at his death. Yè was one of the first appointees to the Nánshūfáng 南書房 (the Kāngxī emperor’s confidential cabinet for court literature) along with 張英 Zhāng Yīng. The collection’s name is modest by design — “casually preserved” — and indeed it is small (4 juan); but the Sìkù tíyào observes that even at this scale it suffices to demonstrate his literary merit. Yè had earlier composed the Rènzhāi jí 訒齋集; after his tànhuā placement he set the earlier corpus aside and did not preserve it.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Dúshūzhāi ǒu cún gǎo in 4 juan is by Yè Fāngǎi of our dynasty. Fāngǎi, zì Zǐjí, hào Rènān, of Kūnshān; jìnshì of jǐhài of Shùnzhì (1659), placed third in the first class, rising in office to Hànlín xuéshì concurrently Lǐbù shìláng with the title of shàngshū added; posthumously Wénmǐn. After taking off the zháifú (commoner’s gown) he was at once recognized by the Shìzǔ Zhāng Huángdì (Shùnzhì) for his learning and prose; the imperial repeatedly praised his attainments — he was the Sū Shì-like qícái (rare talent) of his time, as Yè himself notes in the Shǔhuái shī of his own Hànlín xuéshì tenure (“I dare to say I shall hold against the worthies of another day”). Later he received the recognition of the Shèngzǔ Rén Huángdì (Kāngxī) too, being summoned into the Nánshūfáng with 張英 and others, joining the nèizhí (inner imperial waiting service) — pledging notes of song-and-reply, bowing in yángyán speech, and singing of the shēngpíng (high age) — meeting the shèngjì (great moment). His poetry grew steadily better. Before his successful career he had composed a Rènzhāi jí; after passing he set it aside and did not preserve it. The present text is all from his court-tenure and from his retirement to his native place; not arranged by form, not by year, perhaps selected by Fāngǎi himself — though small in number it is fully sufficient to display his best.
Wáng Yuán claimed Fāngǎi took poetry and prose as his vocation: that his poetic discipleship was Sū Shì and Lù Yóu, his prose discipleship Sū’s Méishān school; that he held in lifelong reverence the poetry of Wáng Shìzhēn and the prose of Wāng Wǎn, and indeed his work combines the strengths of both. The present cún gǎo does not extend to miscellaneous prose, and the poetry runs through all forms; in gélǜ (genre-decorum) it is mostly fēngshén jùnyì, qīnglì qiānmián (lofty in bearing, exquisite in clarity). Though he does not reach Shìzhēn’s xiùgǔ tiānchéng (carved-bone, nature-completed), his hèyǎ chōngróng (harmonious-easy, leisurely-soft) — his qīngcái — is properly beyond compare. Among the famous names of our founding generation he certainly merits a place set aside. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), seventh month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Yè Fāngǎi is the foundational figure of the Kāngxī Nánshūfáng — the imperial cabinet for confidential literary affairs that emerged around 1677 — and a key transitional figure between the early-Kāngxī bóxué hóngcí Hànlín establishment and the institutional consolidation of imperial-court poetry under 陳廷敬 (b. 1639), 張英 (b. 1637), and 高士奇. His poetic position — discipleship to Sū Shì and Lù Yóu through Wáng Shìzhēn’s Shényùn mediation — placed him squarely in the Kāngxī-era court-poetic mainstream.
Composition window: from Yè’s jìnshì year (1659) through his death (1682). The work is small but represents the carefully-curated court-poet identity Yè wished to leave behind.
Translations and research
ECCP 904–905 (Tu Lien-che) — substantial biographical entry.
Lawrence D. Kessler, K’ang-hsi and the Consolidation of Ch’ing Rule, 1661–1684 (Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 1976) — references the Nán-shū-fáng institutional history.
Jonathan Spence, Ts’ao Yin and the K’ang-hsi Emperor (New Haven: Yale UP, 1966) — discusses Yè’s role in the Kāngxī inner court.
Links
- Wikidata Q15924129 (Ye Fang’ai)
- ECCP 904–905
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào