任昉述異記について

Abstract

During the Wei, Chin, and Northern and Southern dynasties periods, a number of collections of tales dealing with wonders and supernatural happenings appeared, influenced both by the fashion for historical writing which characterized the period, and the popular beliefs in ghosts and spirits. These collections of prose tales, with their predominant interest in the supernatural, were the forerunners of the Chinese novel, and as such deserve special attention in the history of Chinese fiction. The Shu i chi, which is the subject of this study, has traditionally been attributed to Jen Fang (460-508) of the Liang dynasty and counted among these collections of ghost stories of the Six Dynasties period. The fact that it is never mentioned in works of the Sui and T'ang periods, but appears for the first time in works of the Sung, suggests that it is actually a forgery of post-T'ang times. It seems probable, however, that it contains material drawn from a work in 252 chuan, entitled Ti chi 地記, attributed to Jen Fang but now lost. This material was evidently selected, reworked, and collected by a later writer or writers to form the work known as Shu i chi which we now possess.