袁中郎の性靈説

Abstract

While there have been numerous studies of the Ming poet Yuan Hung-tao 袁宏道, or Yüan Chung-lang 袁中郞, (1568-1610), they have for the most part dealt with particular problems and have failed to give a satisfactory explanation of his theory of hsing-ling 性靈. The purpose of this study is to repair this deficiency. Yüan's object in expounding his hsing-ling theory was to remedy the defects of the archaism of the poets of his age, though at the same time he himself had some sympathy for the "return to antiquity" movement. The reason he did not find these two positions mutually contradictory was that he believed that literature must change with time, and that the excellence of a poem can never be guaranteed by the modernity or antiquity of its diction. Thus he declared that there were many fine works among the poetry of the Sung period, which was condemned by the archaists, and designated Po Chü-i and Su Tung-p'o as his ideals. His theories, known by the name of hsing-ling and widely acclaimed in China at the time, are analyzed in this study, as well as his general view of literature, which sprang from his ideals of freedom and naturalness in life.