閉ざされた隱逸空間 --庾信「小園賦」論--

Abstract

Yu Xin 庾信, who served both the Southern and Northern dynasties, created a Xiao-yuan fu 小園賦, which depicted a dwelling of seclusion, in the early days of his transition to the North. Yu Xin created this work under the situation to be forced to the government service at an undesired place. It can be said that it is a traditional conception of retirement to find freedom and tranquility in a small space like a little garden 小園, and Xiao-yuan fu is the first literary work created according to the theme of this concept. Compared to the works of poets who preceded him, such as Pan Yue 潘岳, Tao Yuanming 陶淵明, Xie Lingyun 謝靈運, Shen Yue 沈約 and others, the space illustrated in Xiao-yuan fu is distinctly closed and isolated from the outside. The works of the previous poets, who depicted a dwelling of seclusion such as Xian-ju fu 閑居賦, Shan-ju fu 山居賦 and Jiao-ju fu 郊居賦 use many words to explain the process of retirement and provide a meaning for the place of seclusion. In contrast, such content is not seen in Yu Xin's work. Yu Xin's specific situation, separated by kinship and territorial bonding, acutely affects the creation of such a place of seclusion. In addition to Yu Xin, Bai Juyi 白居易, the poet of the middle-Tang age, also built a closed “small space”. By comparing the two, we can observe a significant difference related to their time of origin in terms of what philosophy supports the place of seclusion.