Some Notes on the Authorship of the Lii Ling/Su Wuu Letters—II

Abstract

In my first article on this question the following conclusions were reached: (1) that all the five letters referred to were spurious; and (2) that letters 1, 2, and 3 were probably written by one and the same author. In this article I shall attempt to show that the themes, style, and atmosphere of the three letters in question lead to the further conclusion that their author was probably Jiang Ian of the Liang Dynasty (tzyh Wen-tong , A.D. 444–505). Before discussing this special case of literary ‘forgery’ it may be helpful to cast a glance at the practice of literary forgery in China generally, while directing our attention especially to the motives for such activities.