Constructing the Literary History of Families with Generations of Writers--A Case Study of the Chao Family in the Song Dynasty

Author: Li Chaojun

Publisher: People’s Publishing House

 

 

 

Throughout the history of Chinese literature, it is not uncommon for a single family to produce generations of great writers. The book Constructing the Literary History of Families with Generations of Writers--A Case Study of the Chao Family in the Song Dynasty, by Li Chaojun constructs a history of literary families at a time when the study of such families is currently en vogue.

 

Taking the Chao Family as a model for constructing a history of literary families, the book probes literature by ancient families and attempts to establish the status of this field of research.

 

In the introduction, Li Chaojun gives a general account of the development of literary families in the past dynasties. He makes a list of 200 literary families and expounds upon the research, thus highlighting the necessity and significance of constructing a history of families that produce great writers. And the chapter of literary history and the chapter of textual research unfold an entire picture of the literary evolution of the Chao family, making clear of the traits and rules in the process.

 

The book’s conclusions go further to generalize the experience of the Chao family to other types of families, promoting the idea of constructing a general history of literary families and suggesting thorough research of the past dynasties rather than the focus on one single family. Family literature is regarded as a unique part of ethnic literature and included into the comparison of Chinese and foreign literature, which demonstrates the insight and boldness of the author.

 

The book lists 34 writers from the Chao family, which had the most of any comparable family. The author referred to the documents of the Song and Yuan dynasties and found that at least 34 people from the Chao family had left writings, with the extant and missing works totaling 110, thousands of articles included. The data far exceeds that of Lu Xinyuan in the Qing Dynasty who recorded that more than 10 people from the Chao family wrote dozens of books, among which, 15 are still preserved today.

 

The author shows unique ingenuity in understanding and studying the Chao family and its literature. First, he examined the decline of the Chao family and its literary accomplishments during the Southern Song Dynasty when related records were lacking. Second, he looked at hundreds of mistakes in the recording of the Chao people and the chronicling of their works and included 15 articles on analysis of these errors, providing reliable materials for further research of the Chao family literature and even that of the Song Dynasty. Third, he unveiled the shift of the Chao family literature from eulogistic poems and songs to pure literature and its characteristics in different stages. Last, he divided the Chao family literature during the late Northern Song Dynasty into different stages, providing a new approach to the research of family literature.

 

In a word, the book has conducted both a macro and a micro analysis on theoretical and empirical studies and probed into the thoughts and artistic value of family literature.

 

Zuo Hongtao is from the School of Literature and Journalism at South Central University for Nationalities.

 

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 635, August 18, 2014.

 

Translated by Ren Jingyun