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The Ghih-yen-chai Commentary and the Dream of the Red Chamber: A Literary Study

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Chinese Approaches to Literature from Confucius to Liang Ch'i-Ch'ao
This chapter is in the book Chinese Approaches to Literature from Confucius to Liang Ch'i-Ch'ao
The Ghih-yen-chai Commentary and the Dream of the Red Chamber: A Literary Study JOHN C. Y. WANG I The importance of the Chih-yen-chai Commentary in the study of the text and the author of the Dream of the Red Cham-ber was fully recognized when in 1928 Hu Shih published his study on the so-called chia-hsii (1754) version of the novel (in manual transcription) accompanied by Chih-yen-chai's comments.1 Since then, several other transcribed versions bearing Chih-yen-chai's comments have been discovered,2 ll'K'ao-cheng Hung-lou meng ti hsin ts'ai-liao" in Hu Shih wen-ts'un (Taipei: Yuan-tung t'u-shu kung-ssu, 1953), hi, 372-403. 2Chan Hing-ho in his Hsin-pien Hung-lou meng Chih-yen-chai p'ing-yu chi-chiao (Paris and Hong Kong: Centre de publication de I'U.E.R. Asie orientale de l'Universite' Paris-VII and the Research Group on the Hung-lou meng of New Asia College, Chinese Uni-versity of Hong Kong, 1972) lists seven such versions, plus a printed version (issued by the Yu-cheng shu-chii in 1911 with a preface by Ch'i Liao-sheng chin-shih 1769) and two manuscript versions without comments (Preface, 8-9). Quotations from and references to the Chih-yen-chai Com-mentary in this essay are all based on Mr. Chan's work, which has super-seded Yu P'ing-po's earlier work, Chih-yen-chai Hung-lou meng chi-p'ing The writing of this paper was greatly facilitated by a summer research grant made by the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University. I would also like to express my appreciation to Professors Patrick Hanan and James J.Y. Liu for their valuable suggestions. I89

The Ghih-yen-chai Commentary and the Dream of the Red Chamber: A Literary Study JOHN C. Y. WANG I The importance of the Chih-yen-chai Commentary in the study of the text and the author of the Dream of the Red Cham-ber was fully recognized when in 1928 Hu Shih published his study on the so-called chia-hsii (1754) version of the novel (in manual transcription) accompanied by Chih-yen-chai's comments.1 Since then, several other transcribed versions bearing Chih-yen-chai's comments have been discovered,2 ll'K'ao-cheng Hung-lou meng ti hsin ts'ai-liao" in Hu Shih wen-ts'un (Taipei: Yuan-tung t'u-shu kung-ssu, 1953), hi, 372-403. 2Chan Hing-ho in his Hsin-pien Hung-lou meng Chih-yen-chai p'ing-yu chi-chiao (Paris and Hong Kong: Centre de publication de I'U.E.R. Asie orientale de l'Universite' Paris-VII and the Research Group on the Hung-lou meng of New Asia College, Chinese Uni-versity of Hong Kong, 1972) lists seven such versions, plus a printed version (issued by the Yu-cheng shu-chii in 1911 with a preface by Ch'i Liao-sheng chin-shih 1769) and two manuscript versions without comments (Preface, 8-9). Quotations from and references to the Chih-yen-chai Com-mentary in this essay are all based on Mr. Chan's work, which has super-seded Yu P'ing-po's earlier work, Chih-yen-chai Hung-lou meng chi-p'ing The writing of this paper was greatly facilitated by a summer research grant made by the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University. I would also like to express my appreciation to Professors Patrick Hanan and James J.Y. Liu for their valuable suggestions. I89

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Chronology of Chinese Dynasties ix
  5. Abbreviations xi
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Confucius and Ancient Chinese Literary- Criticism 21
  8. Ch'i in Chinese Literary Theory 43
  9. The Literary Theory and Practice of Ou-yang Hsiu 67
  10. Method and Intuition: The Poetic Theories of Huang T'ing-chien 97
  11. Ch'ing and Ching in the Critical Writings of Wang Fu-chih 121
  12. The Gh'ang-chou School of Tz'u Criticism 151
  13. The Ghih-yen-chai Commentary and the Dream of the Red Chamber: A Literary Study 189
  14. Yen Fu and Liang Gh' i-ch' ao as Advocates of New Fiction 221
  15. List of Contributors 258
  16. Index 261
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400870868-011

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Chronology of Chinese Dynasties ix
  5. Abbreviations xi
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Confucius and Ancient Chinese Literary- Criticism 21
  8. Ch'i in Chinese Literary Theory 43
  9. The Literary Theory and Practice of Ou-yang Hsiu 67
  10. Method and Intuition: The Poetic Theories of Huang T'ing-chien 97
  11. Ch'ing and Ching in the Critical Writings of Wang Fu-chih 121
  12. The Gh'ang-chou School of Tz'u Criticism 151
  13. The Ghih-yen-chai Commentary and the Dream of the Red Chamber: A Literary Study 189
  14. Yen Fu and Liang Gh' i-ch' ao as Advocates of New Fiction 221
  15. List of Contributors 258
  16. Index 261
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