The Poet Shen Yueh (441-513): The Reticent Marquis.

• Author: Lai, C.M.

By Richard B. Mather, Princeton: University Press, 1988. Pp. xi + 260, with maps. $42.50.

A study of the third to mid-sixth centuries in Chinese history, a period generally designated as the Six Dynasties, is a great undertaking. In both Chinese and Western scholarship, the literature of this era is often overlooked and regarded as a preliminary stage leading to the flowering of the Tang dynasty. This misguided assumption disregards the "independence" of Six Dynasties literature by not taking into consideration the many writers from this period who were both prolific and innovative, in addition to being well established in their literary craft. With the exception of Tao Ch'ien (365-427), few writers from the Six Dynasties period have been discussed on their merits alone. Professor Richard Mather's fine study on Shen Yueh (441-513) fills part of this void in Western scholarship. This work is the first of its kind in any language that provides a thorough examination and inquiry into Shen Yueh's role in Chinese history as a writer, historian and theorist. As with Mather's previous works, most notably, his monumental translation of the Shih-shuo hsin-yu, the book under review is an invaluable resource on Six Dynasties literature and thought.

Shen Yueh's advocacy of rules governing tonal euphony in poetry, as editor of the History of the Sung Dynasty (Sung-shu) and as a poet in his own right, are all reasons why he is deserving of study. Furthermore, Shen was an "articulate defender of the Buddhist faith" (p. 3) which was a source of conflict in his service under three successive dynasties, the Sung (420-79), the Ch'i (479-502), and the Liang (502-57). Perhaps only Chiang Yen (444-505), among Shen's contemporaries, rivalled his long-lived official career and status as poet. However, unlike Chiang Yen, Shen was a lay Buddhist practitioner, and throughout his official career he was "tortured all the while by a desire to give up public life altogether and retire into the mountains as a recluse. He was constantly afflicted by guilt and low self-esteem, acutely aware of his inconsistency in continuing to hold office and uncomfortable in his recognition of his own affluence as it contrasted with the poverty he saw all around him" (p. 3). The conflict in Shen's life is not surprising in light of the fact that serving under three dynastic regimes was rare for high officials, particularly during the tumultuous and short-lived Southern dynasties. Rarer...