The artefacts of biography in Ch'en Hung-shou's 'Pao-lun-t'ang chi'.

摘要

Many accounts of the life of Ch'en Hung-shou are recorded in historical documents and art texts that pertain to the late Ming period. He was an exceptional painter who disregarded canons both of subject matter and of style to which most of his contemporaries adhered. By happenstance, moreover, he witnessed the fall of the Ming government and was inevitably embroiled with the Manchu conquerers of China. My focus in the dissertation will be a biographical one; my starting-point will be Ch'en Hung-shou's writings, especially the poems and essays that were recorded in the posthumous collection of his literary works Pao-lun-t'ang chi (Collected writings from Hall for the Cherishment of Silken Cords).; Traditional Chinese accounts of Ch'en Hung-shou's biography sought to narrate his life in accordance with the exemplary patterns that had been perceived in the lives of artists known from the past. Presentation of his experience after the Manchu conquest as an i-min, or "left-over subject," also followed certain literary precedents. The three principal biographies of Ch'en Hung-shou that were written in the early K'ang-hsi period have had a significant influence, even into the twentieth century, on the way historians have recounted his life. Although the vivid narration of these texts by Chu I-tsun, Mao Ch'i-ling, and Meng Yuan can persuade the reader of their veracity and knowledge of Ch'en Hung-shou, more often than not they evidence considerable authorial manipulation, so much so that they cannot be accepted as the straightforward historical documents they might appear to be. K'ang-hsi period views of Ch'en Hung-shou tended to exaggerate the painter's loyalty to the Ming.; My interpretive scheme will depend in part upon Pao-lun-t'ang chi as a repository of slighted or little known facts about the painter's life. My purpose, however, is not simply to write a literary biography. Although Pao-lun-t'ang chi contains a great number of confessional writings and poetic complaints, the most private of these texts can be shown to convey as well the form of a public self. Indeed, Ch'en Hung-shou presents himself in a variety of ways in his poetry, accommodating his presentation to the codes of behavior to which he adhered in different periods of his life. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)