Imitations of the Self: Jiang Yan and Chinese Poetics

313 Pages·2014·1.898 MB·English

by  Nicholas M. Williams

i
Imitations of the Self: Jiang Yan and Chinese Poetics
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004282452_001
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Sinica Leidensia
Edited by
Barend J. ter Haar
Maghiel van Crevel
In co-operation with
P.K. Bol, D.R. Knechtges, E.S. Rawski,
W.L. Idema, H.T. Zurndorfer
VOLUME 118
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/sinl
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Imitations of the Self:
Jiang Yan and Chinese Poetics
By
Nicholas Morrow Williams
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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Cover illustration: Textile with Animals and Woven Inscription (detail). China, 1st–3rd century. Warp-
faced compound plain weave silk. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Purchase, Friends
of Asian Art Gifts, 2003), via www.metmuseum.org.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Nicholas Morrow, author.
Imitations of the Self : Jiang Yan and Chinese Poetics / by Nicholas M. Williams.
pages cm. -- (Sinica Leidensia ; 118)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-90-04-28223-0 (hardback : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-28245-2 (e-book) 1. Jiang, Yan,
444-505--Criticism and interpretation. 2. Chinese poetry--221 B.C.-960 A.D.--History and criticism. 3.
Poetics--Early works to 1800. I. Title.
PL2666.C45Z93 2015
895.18’209--dc23
2014032276
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 0169-9563
isbn 978-90-04-28223-0 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28245-2 (e-book)
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
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Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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for David Knechtges
⸪
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Contents Contents vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction—The Double Voice 1
part 1
The Development of Imitation Poetry
1 A Brocade of Words: Theories of Poetic Imitation 23
2 The Reciprocal Origins of Pentasyllabic Verse and of Imitation
Poetry 50
3 Impersonation and the Art of Authorship 77
4 Echoing through the Rafters: The Afterlife of Jian’an 105
part 2
Jiang Yan between Poetry and Life
5 Self-Portrait as Sea Anemone, and Other Impersonations of Jiang
Yan 147
6 Jiang Yan’s Allusive and Illusive Journeys 176
7 Pathways in Obscurity: Jiang Yan and Ruan Ji 210
Appendix: Jiang Yan’s Poems in Diverse Forms 247
Works Cited 280
Index 296
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AcknowledAgcmknenotwsledgments ix
Acknowledgments
I began studying Jiang Yan’s poems in 2005, and through the intervening years
David Knechtges has been a constant source of aid and inspiration. Professor
Knechtges has done more work than anyone to build a solid foundation for the
study of medieval Chinese literature in the West; this book is a modest con-
struction upon that foundation, and is dedicated accordingly.
Throughout the revision of the manuscript my work has been supported by
the Mr. Simon Suen and Mrs. Mary Suen Sino-Humanitas Institute at Hong
Kong Baptist University, which has also generously assisted with publication
costs. I have been aided also by a Fulbright scholarship for dissertation re-
search at National Taiwan University; the Hsiao fellowship at the University of
Washington; and research grants from Hong Kong Baptist University. Chinese
Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews has kindly granted permission to reprint my
article “Self-Portrait as Sea Anemone, and Other Impersonations of Jiang Yan”
as Chapter 5.
I am grateful to Paul Kroll for two profoundly encouraging suggestions, and
to my lunch partners in Hong Kong—Lee Tong King, John Wakefield, and Tim
Chan—for good cheer. Without the love and inspiration of my family, I would
have long ago have given up on Chinese literature for some more lucrative
field, such as lepidoptery.
None of these people deserves blame for the faults that remain in this vol-
ume; even I have begun to feel aloof from the past self who began this project
nearly a decade ago; but I accept responsibility as poste restante for the true
author.
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