Title

Narrating the “Self” in Works of Natural Science: On Travel, Life and Historical Emotion in the Youyang zazu

Author

Chen Po-yen

Genre

Article

Pages

1-39

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202203_52(1).0001

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎, bowu 博物 narratives, traveling, historical emotion, “Temple and Tower Record”

Abstract

Duan Chengshi’s 段成式 (803-863) Tang dynasty work Youyang zazu 酉陽雜 俎 belongs to the genre of natural science (bowu 博物). In the book, Duan records everything from birds, beasts, insects and fish to alien monsters. In the past, scholars have paid significant attention to the literary and historical value of the Youyang zazu, and emphasized the boundary breaking style of the zazu genre. This article interprets the Youyang zazu from a fresh perspective by looking at how the author’s personal voice can be seen in its natural science narratives. It finds that the name of the author, Chengshi, appears 72 times in the text. Given that the author’s name appears so frequently, it not only asks how the author’s “self ” is involved in the narrative, but also what meaning is conveyed by the inclusion of the self. In addition, the article traces the figure of Duan Chengshi’s “self,” describes the overall trajectory of his travels and examines his interest in daily life. It moreover explores how Duan Chengshi reflected on and memorized history through his composition of this work on natural science, and shows how the text became a means of expressing his own sadness. Finally, this study not only describes how the narrative contained in the Youyang zazu widened the boundaries of natural writing, it also outlines the spiritual image of scholars in the mid to late Tang.