Sānguózhì wénlèi 三國志文類
Topical Compendium of Prose from the Sānguózhì by 闕名
About the work
A 60-juǎn Southern-Sòng anthology of prose from Chén Shòu 陳壽’s Sānguó zhì 三國志 (and Péi Sōngzhī 裴松之’s commentary), organised by 23 generic categories (mén): zhàoshū, jiàolìng, biǎozòu, shūshū, jiànzhèng, jièzé, jiànchēng, quànshuō, duìwèn, yì, lùn, shū, jiān, píng, xí, méng, xù, zhùwén, jìwén, lěi, shīfù, záwén, zhuàn. The work follows the model set by Liǔ Zōngzhí 柳宗直 (the XīHàn wénlèi 西漢文類, preserved in Liǔ Zōngyuán’s Hédōng jí). It is anonymous — the Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì records the book as “compiler unknown”. The transmitted text is from a Sòng print edition. The SKQS editors are critical: they note that two of the genre-categories — quànshuō (Persuasion-and-Speech) and duìwèn (Reply-and-Question) — are properly spoken language, not literary composition, and were padded into the anthology to fill out juǎn-count; and that the inclusion of Chén Shòu’s own historian’s píng (assessment-notes), in the manner of Sīmǎ Qiān’s and Bān Gù’s zàn, properly belongs in the parent history and should not have been extracted as an independent genre. Materials span late-Hàn through early-Jìn — because Péi Sōngzhī’s commentary draws heavily on Jìn-era sources for the Wèi section.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Sānguó zhì wénlèi in 60 juǎn. The compiler’s name is not given. Today there is a transmitted Sòng print edition. The Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì lists this book and notes: “compiler unknown” — so it was already not investigable at the time.
Examining Liǔ Zōngyuán’s Hédōng jí there is Liǔ Zōngzhí XīHàn wénlèi xù — his pieces are all gathered from the Hànshū. This book takes only the prose of the Sānguó zhì — clearly following that precedent. In all, 23 mén (categories): zhàoshū; jiàolìng; biǎozòu; shūshū; jiànzhèng; jièzé; jiànchēng; quànshuō; duìwèn; yì; lùn; shū; jiān; píng; xí; méng; xù; zhùwén; jìwén; lěi; shīfù; záwén; zhuàn. What is taken spans the late Hàn down to the early Jìn — for the Wèizhì records Cáo Cāo’s affairs all in Jiànān (Hàn-era), and Péi Sōngzhī’s commentary takes much from Jìn-era books.
But the quànshuō and duìwèn are all spoken-language at the time, not original literary composition; quānjuǎnpèichì (filling the volume) — the principle is not securely-grounded. Again: Chén Shòu’s own píng (assessor’s notes) is like MǎBān’s zàn (encomium); to extract it and set up a separate category-name also runs against the principle. Because it is a Sòng-man’s old recension, we keep it as it is for the sake of reference and verification. Reverently submitted, first month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Southern Sòng, before 1279. The exact compilation date is not recoverable; internal evidence (Sòng character-taboo avoidance comparable to that of KR4h0064 Zēngzhù Tángcè) places it firmly in the late twelfth or thirteenth century. The book is listed in the Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì, so it predates the SòngYuán transition.
Significance. (1) Genre-anthologisation of a single dynastic history. Modelled on Liǔ Zōngzhí’s lost XīHàn wénlèi, the Sānguó zhì wénlèi is the only complete Sòng-era survival of this rare genre — a typological dissection of a single historical narrative into its constituent prose genres. The model was influential: similar projects were attempted for the HòuHànshū and the Jìnshū but did not survive.
(2) Pedagogical reference. The 23-mén structure makes the work a practical handbook for examination candidates needing to compose in any of these formal genres — the biǎo, zòu, jiàn, jiào, xí, méng, etc. Sòng jǔyè depended heavily on historical-prose models from the early-mediaeval period, and the Sānguó offered the richest reservoir.
(3) Péi Sōngzhī material. Because the anthology draws on Péi Sōngzhī’s quoted sources as well as the main text, it preserves some materials whose original sources (e.g. Wǎng Chén 王沈’s Wèishū, Yú Huàn’s Wèilüè) are now lost. It functions as a secondary witness for fragments of these Jìn-era histories.
Translations and research
- Rafe de Crespigny, Generals of the South (Canberra, 1990) and To Establish Peace (Canberra, 1996) — for the underlying Sān-guó zhì and Péi commentary.
- 王嘉川 Wáng Jiā-chuān, “Sān-guó zhì” zhù yán-jiū 三國志注研究 — on Péi Sōng-zhī.
- 李純蛟 Lǐ Chún-jiāo, Sān-guó zhì yán-jiū shǐ-lüè — including the anthology tradition.
- 陳國燦 Chén Guó-càn, Sòng-dài shǐ-lèi wén-xué-shǐ liáo bǔ-yí — Sòng-era history-anthologisation.
Other points of interest
The presence of Chén Shòu’s píng as an independent genre category — censured by the SKQS editors as improper — is in fact the principal evidence that the anthology was compiled with historical-rhetorical pedagogy rather than pure-literature in view: the Sòng anthologist treats the historian’s assessment as a formal prose genre on a par with the biǎo or the yì.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext