Do the parts add up? textual systems and segments of Sijie ji 四節記 (Four Seasons) in Ming Anthologies

Journal article

Abstract:: Sijie ji 四節記 (The Four Seasons) is a set of four plays believed to have been composed in the mid Ming. Each of the four plays is based on an episode related to a season in the lives of four famous literati: Du Fu (spring), Xie An (summer), Su Shi (autumn), and Tao Gu (winter) respectively. The full texts of the plays are no longer extant, but because they were widely popular in the Ming dynasty, excerpts of various shapes and forms can be found in more than twenty qu anthologies dating from as early as 1553. In other words, Sijie ji is a lost work of which only certain parts are preserved, and exclusively so, through anthologies. How, for a work whose partial survival is closely connected to anthologies, do we approach this body of disparate, anthologized drama parts that all appear to be associated with Sijie ji? This paper explores the significance of reading these segments of Sijie ji not necessarily as parts of an elusive whole, but instead as individual meaningful textual units belonging to more than one textual system, and considers the role of anthologies in the textual relations and circulation of knowledge within qu texts and across various genres.

Files:: Tan_2024_Do_the_parts.pdf

(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 1.9MB, Terms of use)

Publication website:: https://ritualtheatreandfolkloreat.blogspot.com/2024/09/textual-systems-and-segments-of-sijie.html

Publisher:: Shi He Zheng Folk Culture Foundation, Taiwan
Journal:: Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore (Min-su ch’ü-i 民俗曲藝) More from this journal
Volume:: 225
Issue:: 9
Pages:: 17-57
Publication date:: 2024-09-01
Acceptance date:: 2024-02-01
ISSN:: 1025-1383

Notes:: This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from Shi He Zheng Folk Culture Foundation, Taiwan at: https://ritualtheatreandfolkloreat.blogspot.com/2024/09/textual-systems-and-segments-of-sijie.html

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