沈亞之と小說

Abstract

Shen Ya-chih, an impoverished descendent of the southern aristocracy, is mainly famous as a poet, though he also wrote a number of works of prose fiction. His fiction may be divided into three groups according to the periods in which it was written. In the period before Shen Ya-chih passed his chin-shih examination (814), when it was his ambition to become an historian, he wrote the stories entitled "Biography of Hsi-tzu" 喜子傳 and "Biography of Feng Yen" 馮燕傳, employing the biographical form and a clear, simple style to describe men who are caught in a dilemma. His style in this period is markedly influenced by that of Han Yu, his teacher. The period from the time he passed his examination and became an official until 829 when, having advanced in the bureaucracy and become involved in a political dispute, he was sent into exile, constitutes the second phase of his work, during which his style undergoes a definite change. From this period date the stories I-meng-lu, 異夢錄 Hsiang-chung yüan-chieh, 湘中怨解 Ch'inmeng-chi 秦夢記 and others, all dealing with love, music or dance, espesially as they appear in dreams. They are romances of a fantastic nature and include large numbers of lyric poems woven into the texts. The influence of the poets Yüan Chen 元稹 and Po Chü-i 白居易 is most noticeable in his work of this period. The third period, from the time of his exile to present day Hupeh until his death two years later, is represented by the story entitled "Biography of Kuo Ch'ang" 郭常傳, in which the author, through the biography of a doctor, attacks the corruption of the bureaucratic world of his day. Thus Shen Ya-chih in his works moved from simple biography to romance and fantasy, and in the end returned to satirical potrayals of the contemporary world. He lived at a time when the T'ang romance had reached its peak of development and had begun to decline, and his own works may be said to reflect this process.