|
|
|
| The Special Situation and Reason of More Poems and Less Essays in Ancient Chinese Women |
| ZHANG Xiu-yu |
| Institute of History, Anhui Academy of Social Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230051 |
|
|
|
|
Abstract In ancient China, women wrote far less than men. Before the Tang Dynasty, women writers who had works handed down through the ages accounted for only 1.5% of all writers. Women’s works in the Qing Dynasty account for 70% of all women’s works in ancient China, but none of them has been included in the famous “Anthology of Good Works in the Qing Dynasty(清代文集叙录)”. Compared with women’s poems, the quantity of their proses is next to nothing. There are many factors accounting for this phenomenon. First, due to the limitation of their knowledge as a result of limited education and few opportunities to see the outside world, writing was difficult for women. Those women who were able to write poems and proses were from distinguished families, of great talents, and with extraordinary experience. Second, women’s writing was restricted by its function. Poetry serves better than proses for flattery and ostentatiousness, which made women write more poems than proses. However, proses written by women were mostly of practical style and were of poor quality, and thus few of them was handed down through the ages. Proses written by women were a bit more impressive when a new dynasty replaced an old one. Inadequate printing, and lack of time and energy are also possible reason why women wrote few proses. It is a pity that women in ancient China left behind very few proses.
|
|
Received: 18 March 2021
|
|
|
|
|
|
[1] 顾廷龙. 闺范诗序[A].胡文楷.历代妇女著作考[M].上海:上海古籍出版社,1985.
[2] 张舜徽. 清人文集别录·自序[M].武汉:华中师范大学出版社,2004.1.
[3] (清)严可均.全上古三代秦汉三国六朝文·出版说明[M].北京:中华书局,1958.
[4] 庄新霞. 汉魏六朝女性著述考论[D].济南:山东大学博士学位论文,2007.77.
[5] 王英志. 清代闺秀诗话丛刊·总序[M].南京:凤凰出版社,2010.
[6] 梁乙真. 清代妇女文学史·清代妇女著作表[M].北京:中华书局,1967.325-347.
[7] 王延梯辑. 中国古代女作家集[M].济南:山东大学出版社,1999.
[8] 张秀玉. 咸丰兵燹与桐城文献考论[J].安徽史学,2018,(6):138.
[9] (清)永瑢,纪昀主编.四库全书总目提要[M].周仁等整理.海口:海南出版社,1999.1059.
[10] 王秀琴. 历代名媛文苑简编[M].上海:商务印书馆,1946.
[11] (美)曼素恩.缀珍录——十八世纪及其前后的中国妇女[M].定宜庄,颜宜葳译.南京:江苏人民出版社,2004.4.
[12] (清)王士禄.宫闺氏籍艺文考略[J].艺文,1936,(6):20.
[13] 傅瑛. 明清安徽妇女文学著述辑考[M].合肥:黄山书社,2009.
[14] (清)张令仪.蠹窗诗集[M].桐城:姚仲芝刻本,清雍正二年.
[15] (清)陈维崧.妇人集[M].北京:中华书局,1985.10.
[16] 胡适. 三百年中的女作家:《清闺秀艺文略序》[A].胡适文存3[C].北京:华文出版社,2013.486-487.
[17] 谭正璧. 中国女性文学史·女性词话[M].上海:上海古籍出版社,2012.25-26.
[18] (清)徐珂.清稗类钞·娼妓类·李苹香楚楚可观[M].北京:中华书局,1984.5237.
[19] (清)张廷玉等.明史[M].北京:中华书局,2000.2317.
[20] (清)苏完瓜尔佳籛年.女子家庭模范[M].天津:醒华报馆石印本,清宣统.
[21] 林雪. 柳如是尺牍小引[A].嶙峋编.闺海吟[C]. 北京:华龄出版社,2012.178.
[22] (清)范当世.范伯子诗文集[M].上海:上海古籍出版社,2003.623.
[23] 冼玉清.广东女子艺文考[M].上海:商务印书馆,1941.后序1-3.
[24] (美)斯沃茨.文化与权力:布尔迪厄的社会学[M].陶东风译.上海:上海译文出版社,2012.219. |
|
|
|
2021, Vol. 38 
