Serendipity: A Little Note on Du Fu Texts in the Jin

Abstract

T'ang Studies 14 (1996) Serendipity: A Little Note on Du Fu Texts in the Jin STEPHEN H. WEST UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY An explanatory note: Qiao Ji ~tf, the noted Yuan lyricist, is credited with the following phrase: There is a lIprescribed method" for writing musical lyrics, 1 too. It is summarized in the six words, Ilphoenix head, pig stomach, leopard tail." Generally, the beginning needs to be stunningly beautiful , the middle wants to be vast and mighty, and the ending needs to ring resoundingly. While Iwould have preferred a more linear argument of the order this quote stipulates, Iam afraid that the material itself has pushed this piece in the direction of the traditional biji ~IUc, or scholar's notes, a form of localized discursive comment, for which Ibeg the reader's indulgence. I. Through the centuries, the tangled history of Du Fu's poetic collection has created a Gordian corpus of textual commentary. One has only to consider William Hung's and Zhou Caiquan's work on the texts of this great writer to realize how forgery, malattribution, and willful attempts to appropriate the authority of this poetic sage's voice has consternated the most philologically and bibliographically astute textual critics.2 Fortunately, like Alexander's sword, serendipity can sometimes slice through the snarl of commentary and present a clearer picture of something obscured by complexity from . common VIew. 1 Qiao Ji means the qu lyric when he uses the term yuefu ~Jf.f. 2 William Hung, ed., Dushi yinde tf:~ij 11*,Harvard- Yenching Index Series, Supplement no. 17 (rpt. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1984; hereafter abbreviated DSYD); Zhou Caiquan }j!\H~~, Duji ,shulu (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1986, hereafter abbreviated DJSL). 49 West: Du Fu Texts in the lin Such is the case with the first passage from Wang Ruoxu's (11741243 ) Hunan shihua (The Poetry Talks of the Dynastic Survivor from South of the Huto River), in which Wang set out not only to discuss Du Fu, but to describe the critical acumen of Wang's mentor and uncle, Zhou Ang (ca. 1140-1213).3The passage in question reads: The text, The Poetry of Du Fu, Annotated by a Thousand Scholars (Qianjia zhu Du shi =f~ritl:t±~), passed down through the generations , has among its poems some forty or more pieces called lInewly added." My uncle, Zhou [Ang] Deqing ~qJl(J, once made judicious comments about these pieces, saying, Only the poems "Recalling Antiquity on Qutang" (Qutang huai gu m#Mtft1!:r),4 liTheBallad of the Hawk with the Gaping Mouth" (Yahu xing ~efT),s "A Ballad of Parting 's Regret: Sending Off Liu Puye" (Song Liu Puye xibie xing i!jVJ~!}t11UjUrr)6 are without a doubt those of Du Fu. None of the rest are true texts? They are probably crea3 See Yuan Haowen 7CtlTrJJ, Zhongzhou ji (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 166, and Liu Qi ~H~, Guiqian zhi (Beijing:Zhonghua shuju, 1983),13for biographical information on Zhou Ang. Dates for his life are based on information that he passed his examination at 21 sui during the beginning of the Zhending reignperiod and that he died with King Weishao's southern campaign from Yanjing in 1212-13. 4 All citations to Du Fu's poetry are to Dushi xiangzhu t±~~~, collated by Qiu Zhaoao ffL:JI:.B, 5 vols. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979); hereafter abbreviated DSXZ),here V.21.1931(i.e.,volume 5,juan 21, p. 1931).All poems have also been checked against the more standard Harvard-Yenching Index edition of Jiujia zhu Du shi 1L*tl:t±~,found in DSYD,here 489.12. 5 DSXZIV.18.1558;this poem is not found in DSYD. 6 This poem is not included in DSYD,but can be found under the title "Sending Off Liu Puye: The Ballad of Parting's Regret" in DSXZV.22.2004-5.The editors of the modem edition of the Hunan shihua have misunderstood this line to refer to two poems and therefore read the line as: "Sending Off Liu Puye" and "The Ballad of Parting's Regret" m~Ufi'. 7 One text, instead of ;R*, reads *Ji, "basically true," i.e., true to the basic style...