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From early compilations to a corpus: The making of a literary talent

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Frontiers of Literary Studies in China

Abstract

Shuangliu xuan shiwen ji 双柳轩诗文集 (Anthology of sanctum with two willows) was an anthology of some early works of Yuan Mei (1716–1798), an eminent writer of the Qing dynasty, and had been published before he got famous. Taking the enormous differences found during collation of this anthology with Yuan Mei quan ji 袁枚全集 (Corpus of Yuan Mei), a contemporary collated edition of Xiaocangshan fang quan ji 小仓山房全集 (Complete works of Xiaocangshan villa) compiled in Yuan Mei’s senectitude, as an example, this paper is trying to reveal that a work may go through continuous revisions or even recomposition before they are finalized and taken into a corpus. Like burying a body, every compilation of one’s work is a layer on the first-hand work, and the latest layer is no doubt the farthest from the body. Thus the author suggests that researches attempting to trace diachronies of a renowned writer’s works should dig deep, and if the body itself has lost into dust, at least the early compilations could bring us much closer to how the works used to be.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Classics Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Zhenghong Chen

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  1. Zhenghong Chen
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Correspondence to Zhenghong Chen.

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__________

Translated from Zhongshan daxue xuebao shehui kexue ban 中山大学学报 (社会科学版) (Journal of Sun Yat-sen University [Social Sciences Edition]), 2008, (1): 9–16 by HUA Lei

Chen Zhenghong 陈正宏, Professor at Chinese Classics Research Institute, Fudan University, achieved his Ph.D. in literature from the same university in 1998. His researches mainly focus on editions of Chinese rare books, literary materials and art literature. His works includes Shen Zhou nianpu 沈周年谱 (Chronicle of Shen Zhou’s life), “Xin faxian de Chen Sanli zaonian shigao ji Huang Zunxian shoushu piyu“ 新发现的陈三立早年诗稿及黄遵宪手书批语 (The manuscript and Huang Zunxian’s commentaries of Chen Sanli’s poems), and “Kai syuu gaku ga hen tŌin shohan rei pen kŌ” ┐芥舟学画編┘套印書版零片考 (Study on three fractional woodblocks of a xylographic multicolor edition of Jiezhou xuehua bian).

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Chen, Z. From early compilations to a corpus: The making of a literary talent. Front. Lit. Stud. China 4, 630–643 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11702-010-0114-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11702-010-0114-6

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