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Yutai xinyong and the Practice of Anthologization in Early Medieval China

Wang, Mengling, Wang
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532054736983437

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Languages and Literatures.
The thesis explores the cultural contexts and poetic innovations of the compilation of an anthology, Yutai xinyong (New Songs from a Jade Terrace). The anthology was allegedly compiled by Xu Ling (507-583), a well-known court scholar in the Southern Dynasties (420-589) under the patronage of the Crown Prince of Liang, Xiao Gang (503-551). The focus of the thesis is how Yutai xinyong was anthologized. I discuss the compilation from several different perspectives: the compilation date, editorship, organization and selection criteria, and the socio-political environment at that time. I argue that Xu Ling was not the only compiler of this anthology and there were probably co-compilers in the same court. Furthermore, the anthology as we have it today was probably not compiled at one time. I propose that its compilation expanded to at least the Chen Dynasty ¿ (557-589), after the fall of Liang Dynasty (502-557). A detailed case study on the seventh and eighth juan ¿ (volume) of the anthology shows that nearly half the poems in these two juan are matching poems (heshi ¿¿) or poems written at the imperial command (yingling shi ¿¿¿). Therefore, I argue that Yutai xinyong was a production that resulted from literary gatherings at the salons of the Crown Prince Xiao Gang (503-551) and his younger brother Xiao Yi ¿¿ (508-554). Court poets, along with the princes, were the main participants of the activities that created and shaped imperial literary works. The Yutai xinyong has been viewed as a representative anthology of Palace Style Poetry (Gongti shi and has been criticized for its ornate diction and amorous themes through the centuries. Whether or not Yutai xinyong is a collection of Palace Style Poetry is a complicated question to answer, because scholars are still debating what Palace Style Poetry is. I believe a complex approach to the issue is to allow that Yutai xinyong is not a collection of a certain style, topic or theme of poetry; examined from this perspective, we will see that the anthology in fact features different poetic subgenres and various poetic styles. What Yutai xinyong reflects is in fact the sophisticated cultural and literary environment during the Southern Dynasties. By analyzing the compilation of Yutai xinyong, I reach the conclusion that this anthology was not completed at one time and most likely not accomplished by a single compiler. Through close reading of the poems in the seventh and eighth juan, I argue that these two juan are the product of literary gatherings and group activities. These observations, hinging on the examination of two forms of ji ¿ (“gathering”; “collecting”), the gathering of literary men and the collection of literary works, initiate an exploration of Chinese court culture that centers on practices.
Meow Hui Goh (Advisor)
Patricia Sieber (Committee Member)
151 p.
Literature
Yutai xinyong; anthology; literary gathering; Southern Dynasties; court culture; literary patron

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wang, Wang, M. (2018). Yutai xinyong and the Practice of Anthologization in Early Medieval China [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532054736983437

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wang, Wang, Mengling. Yutai xinyong and the Practice of Anthologization in Early Medieval China. 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532054736983437.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wang, Wang, Mengling. "Yutai xinyong and the Practice of Anthologization in Early Medieval China." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532054736983437

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1532054736983437
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