In Search of a Perfect Match: Jian’an (196-220) Writing about Women and the Formation of a Literati Community

Abstract

AbstractThe pursuit of divine women or women with divine beauty is a common theme in the earliest works of Chinese literature. Many fu (rhapsodies) composed at the Western Han courts feature the speaker’s failed pursuit of a beautiful woman. Yet during the Jian’an period, the image of a seductive yet inaccessible woman lost its prominence in the literary imagination and was replaced by a lonely beauty yearning for a worthy match and lamenting the swift passage of time. This transformation had much to do with the social and cultural transitions of this particular historical moment. This article places Jian’an representations of women in the context of group composition and literary communication at the Cao courts, and discusses the literary and political implications of these representations in comparison with previous court writing about women. The article argues that under a new environment of court writing, Jian’an literati transformed the image of beautiful women from the embodiment of imperial power and privilege into the symbol of their ideal personality and shared values. Writing about women became a crucial means to forming a literary and political community, and defining that community’s values and principles in a troubled time.