Title

A Reading Revolution: On the Jingling School’s Criticism of Du Fu’s Poetry in the Late Ming Dynasty

Author

Chen Ying-chieh

Genre

Article

Pages

685-725

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202312_53(4).0003

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Zhong Xing 鍾惺, Tan Yuanchun 譚元春, Shigui 詩歸, the Jingling school 竟陵派, the revivalist school, Du Fu’s poetry杜甫詩

Abstract

One of the most spectacular events in the Late Ming was the challenge to the revivalist school issued by Zhong Xing鍾惺 (1581-1624) and Tan Yuanchun譚元春 (1586-1637) with the publication of their Shigui詩歸. In this book, they confidently asserted that their views represented the “Ancient spirit” as they sought to refute the ideas of the revivalist school. Since this conflict concerned the proper way to “read” poetry, it can be called a “reading revolution.” What meaningful changes did this revolution bring to the history of poetics in the Late Ming? How did it affect the revivalist school? This article focuses on Zhong and Tan’s selections and criticism of Du Fu’s 杜甫 (712-770) poetry. First, it sheds light on the new canon of Du’s poetry that the Shigui created, and compares this canon with that of the revivalist school. Second, it demonstrates that ke si er bu ke jie可思而不可解, Dushi ru li du miao杜詩入理獨妙, and xingqing yu性情語 all constitute epoch-making points. Finally, this article provides a brief summary and evaluation of the significance of Zhong and Tan’s positions.