Violence, Vigilantism, and Virtue: Reassessing Medieval Female Avenger Accounts through the Study of Narratives about Xie Xiao'e.

• Author: Granger, Kelsey

Previous studies have collected twenty-two extant accounts describing sixteen unique female avengers from the Tang (618-906) and pre-Tang periods. Of these, only two women seek revenge for the death of both their father and their husband: Xie Xiao'e [phrase omitted] and the variant tale of Nun Miaoji [phrase omitted] directly inspired by the former. Furthermore, Xie Xiao'e was assumed to be the only extant female avenger recorded in two different textual contexts: "fiction" and "history." From the outset, female avengers challenge conventions surrounding gender, violence, morality, and sexuality. With two extant accounts written in different modes and two acts of revenge, the case of Xie Xiao'e can be considered as the ideal case study to further explore the tensions surrounding female avengers and how these were mitigated in different modes of writing.

I will first compare the two accounts of Xie Xiao'e to reveal three key tensions managed throughout the narrative. Then I will contextualize the case of Xie Xiao'e against the backdrop of the wider corpus of female avenger accounts to show that this is far from the only example wherein the same three tensions are made apparent. Equally, many more examples of female avenger accounts recorded in multiple genres or modes of writing can be located. Finally, this exploration will show that female avenger accounts can be recategorized on the basis of these three tensions, which seek to curtail, control, and Confucianize these women, rather than via cross-genre comparison, which has been the previous manner of dividing and understanding this collection.

SAMPLE STUDY: XIE XIAO'E AND NUN M1AOJI

Two received accounts tell of female avenger Xie Xiao'e, a young woman who marries a knight-errant named Duan Juzhen [phrase omitted] on reaching marriageable age. Her father and husband are attacked and killed by bandits while doing business, leaving Xie as the sole survivor. Limping, she makes her way to Shangyuan [phrase omitted] county (present-day Jiangning [phrase omitted] county, near Nanjing) where she dreams that her father and husband give her a riddle that will reveal the name of their killers.' Li Gongzuo [phrase omitted]. is able to solve this riddle for her, giving the names Shen Lan [phrase omitted] and Shen Chun [phrase omitted]. Disguising herself as a man, Xie comes to work for the Shens and gains their trust, simultaneously discovering property stolen from her father and husband in the house. While the two Shens lie drunk outside one night, Xie stealthily traps her husband's killer in the house and beheads her father's killer where he lies. Engaging with judicial procedures, Xie is spared the death penalty and, despite many offers of marriage, becomes a Buddhist nun.

This account may appear striking to those unfamiliar with avenger narratives. Various narratives of female avengers have been explored by Sarah Allen. Sufen Lai, and Manling Luo with regard to the underlying tropes of such accounts, the evolution and guises of female violence, and the comparisons that can be made within this subcategory. (2) Luo proposed that the corpus of female avenger accounts could be divided into three genres, i.e., official histories, Music Bureau poetry, and tales, and that these genres in turn approach the topic of female revenge with different limitations and control mechanisms. (3) Luo describes official histories "[endorsing and containing]" the female avenger, poetry espousing "melodrama and aestheticization," and tales as "exploring the problematics," in particular the relationship between gender and violence. (4) It is my belief that, regardless of genre or mode of writing, female avenger accounts instead show a consistent attention to three tensions that are managed using largely similar control mechanisms. These tensions are the juxtaposition of femininity and violence, the differing canonical support for filial and spousal revenge, and the problem of private vigilantism vis-a-vis public law. Genre or mode appears to emphasize the management of one tension over the others, though this is far from consistently applied.

The case of Xie Xiao'e is an outstanding example to explore the mechanics of revenge and these proposed tensions given that she commits both filial and spousal revenge and is recorded in two different modes of writing. However, a detailed comparison of the two extant accounts has yet to be carried out, particularly with regard to how they differ in prioritizing the above three tensions.

Textual History

The "original" tale concerning Xie Xiao'e and her act of revenge was likely written by Li Gongzuo (ca. 770-848), an administrative assistant who worked in Hongzhou [phrase omitted] where the tale is set. (5) Not only does the locale and time period (813-818) referenced in one of the extant versions of this tale coincide with Li Gongzuo's career, but he is also explicitly attributed as the narrator and source of this tale within the narrative of the Taiping guangji [phrase omitted] account itself, making it highly likely that he was the actual author of the original tale. This tale was included in Yiwen ji [phrase omitted] a collection compiled in the 840s, which has since been lost. (6)

Several tales have derived tangentially from Li Gongzuo's account. First would be a tale included in Taiping guangji concerning Ms. Ye [phrase omitted], later the Nun Miaoji, which expands on several key plot elements from the tale of Xie Xiao'e. (7) The story opens with details of her marriage; however, she is not present when her husband and father die. Instead, her father comes to her in a dream, dripping with blood, entreating her to take revenge, and providing her with the same riddle. This is solved by Li Gongzuo in Shangyuan. Years later, Li Gongzuo meets her at a temple as a Buddhist nun where she reveals that she had disguised herself as a man and worked for a member of the Shen family before finding the locations of Shen Lan and Shen Chun. Lowering her price, she works for them and discovers her family property in the home. When the two men return drunk one night, she reports them to the authorities and, gifting the returned property to her mother, becomes a Buddhist nun.

Within this narrative, Li Gongzuo is attributed as the original author and the narrative is said to have been later relayed to Li Fuyan [phrase omitted] (fl. ca. 830) by Chen Tian [phrase omitted] (n.d.). Li Fuyan was from Longxi [phrase omitted] (Gansu), like Li Gongzuo, suggesting that the tale reached him either through shared personal connections or via local hearsay of the events that inspired this account. (8)

Xin Zou has raised the possibility of a second tale based on a similar act of vengeance by another Xie Xiao'e written by Li Shen [phrase omitted] (772-848); however, this text is not extant and can only be traced through the Song (960-1279) gazetteer Yudi jisheng [phrase omitted], compiled 1163-1230. (9) There are many possibilities concerning how Li Shen may have encountered Li Gongzuo's tale or vice versa, especially given the fact that Li Gongzuo did work under Li Shen in the early 840s, but as key plot points from Li Shen's tale are not mentioned in the two extant versions discussed here, it seems likely that they follow the tradition of Li Gongzuo's tale of Xie Xiao'e. (10) Thus, the closest extant versions to Li Gongzuo's tale of Xie Xiao'e are preserved in Taiping guangji and Xin Tang shu [phrase omitted].

Concerning the differences between both accounts, Xin concludes that the Xin Tang shu account is "no longer a local story told from a personal perspective, but a legend verified and accepted by the authorities." (11) Allen also describes the Xin Tang shu account as "truncated but gives the story as it is told in Li Gongzuo's 'Xie Xiao'e,' with some minor discrepancies." (12 )In her discussion of later adaptations of the Xie Xiao'e account. Wai-Yee Li refers to the Xin Tung shu account as being "parallel" to that given in Taiping guingji, while Luo summarizes that the Xin Tang shu account "conforms to historiographic conventions by presenting only the core storyline and eliminating all other details."" Only Roland Altenburger builds on arguments made by Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu in stating that "in the much shorter official version, the emphasis was placed differently," but with no further exploration or examples given regarding this point. (14)

While Xie Xiao'e's revenge has been mentioned in several academic works and the Taiping guangji version has been translated multiple times, attention has yet to be adequately paid to the ways both accounts prioritize different tensions. (15) It is clear that the inherent tension between public law and private justice is of paramount importance in the Xin Tang shu account while the Taiping guangji account focuses on excusing Xie's gender transgression and maintaining her femininity.

Contrasting the Two Accounts

The earliest extant version of the tale is included in Taiping guangji. (16) Given that the tale was already in circulation by the 840s, it is clear that there is over a century of potential reiterations or changes made to this tale before its inclusion in the Taiping guangji collection, and it may even have been edited further by the head of the editorial commission, Li Fang [phrase omitted] [phrase omitted] (925-996), and the thirteen scholars involved in this project from 977 until its completion in 978. (17) The one noteworthy decision that can be attributed to the editors of Taiping guangji is the placement of this tale within the collection.

While the female knights-errant avenger tales to be discussed are placed alongside male and female knights-errant in jnan 193-96, "Haoxia" [phrase omitted] ("Gallant Knights-Errant"), the tale of Xie Xiao'e is given in juan 491, "Za zhuanji" [phrase omitted] ("Miscellaneous Biographies"). (18 )The tale of Nun Miaoji is included in juan 128 "Baoying" [phrase omitted]...