Suí Táng Yěshǐ 隋唐野史
Unofficial History of the Sui and Tang by 羅貫中 (撰)
About the work
The Suí Táng Yěshǐ 隋唐野史 (“Unofficial History of the Suí and Táng”) is a vernacular historical novel attributed to Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 羅貫中, covering the fall of the Suí dynasty, the rise of the Táng through the founding campaigns of Táng Tàizōng 唐太宗 (Lǐ Shìmín 李世民), and extending into the Táng’s long history through the Ān Lùshān 安祿山 rebellion and beyond. The Kanripo source file reveals a 120+ chapter (huí 回) structure, with the final chapters reaching into the reigns of Táng Xuánzōng 唐玄宗, the Ān-Shǐ Rebellion, and the career of the rebel Ān Lùshān, followed by a section on the poet Lǐ Bái 李白. The narrative belongs to the same yěshǐ (“unofficial history”) novel tradition as the Wǔdài Mìshǐ KR4k0069 and the Sānguó Yǎnyì KR4k0063, using historical personages from the standard histories as the basis for episodic fictional elaboration.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The attribution to Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 (born ca. 1315) is traditional, found in catalog records and commercial attributions of the Míng period, but the textual relationship between this text and the much later and more famous Suí Táng Yǎnyì 隋唐演義 by Chǔ Rénhuò 褚人獲 (1695) is a matter of ongoing scholarly debate. The Suí Táng Yěshǐ attributed to Luó appears to be an earlier, simpler narrative focusing on military campaigns (the founding of the Táng, the suppression of rival warlords, the campaigns against the Tūjué 突厥, the Xuánwǔ Mén 玄武門 incident), while the Chǔ Rénhuò novel of 1695 is a far more elaborate romantic and martial narrative centering on the love story of Lǐ Yuánjí’s daughter and the warrior Qín Shūbǎo 秦叔寶.
The Kanripo text’s table of contents shows a narrative arc from the Suí Yángdì’s 隋煬帝 pleasure tours and the warlord uprisings, through the Táng founding campaigns (Lǐ Yuān 李淵 raising troops at Taiyuan, the capture of Chang’an, the Xuánwǔ Mén incident), and continuing through the Gaozong-Wǔ Zétiān period, the Ān Lùshān rebellion (chapter 102 onward), and ending with material on Lǐ Bái 李白 and Xuě Réngùi 薛仁貴. The final chapter (101+) includes the famous “Hua Yin Li Bai Dao Qi Luo” episode.
The composition date of 1370–1430 represents the best estimate for a Luó Guànzhōng-era recension; the text may have been revised or expanded by later hands before its appearance in Míng commercial print.
Translations and research
- Ma, Y. W., and Joseph S. M. Lau, eds. Traditional Chinese Stories: Themes and Variations. Columbia University Press, 1978. (Background on the yěshǐ novel tradition.)
- Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Vernacular Story. Harvard University Press, 1981.
- No substantial secondary literature on this specific text located.