Publication history

Ji Yun published five volumes of supernatural stories from 1789 to 1798: Written to Pass the Season at the Summer Resort (滦阳消夏录) in 1789, So Have I Heard (如是我闻) in 1791, Jottings from My Haidian Lodging (槐西杂志) in 1792, No Harm in Listening (姑妄听之) in 1793, and More from the Summer Resort (滦阳续录) in 1798. In 1800, his student, Sheng Shiyan, amalgamated the volumes into a single collection,Yuewei caotang biji, named after Ji's studio.

Stories

The stories in the Notes feature many supernatural beings, cryptids and concepts from Chinese folklore, including jiangshi, hulijing and yeren, in addition to ghosts and spirits.

Literary significance

According to Leo Tak-Hung Chan, the Notes is the 'most voluminous zhiguai collection in late imperial China' as well as one of the most misunderstood.

Most of the tales collected by Ji were contributed by his friends and acquaintances, many of whom were distinguished government officials, scholars, and members of gentry. As such, Chan argued that the Notes provides unique insight into how the cultural elite of eighteenth-century China viewed the supernatural, complicating popular notions that the Chinese elite during this period were just 'Confucian rationalists'.

Select translations

English

• Real Life in China at the Height of Empire: Revealed by the Ghosts of Ji Xiaolan (tr. David Pollard). Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2014. .

• Shadows in a Chinese Landscape: The Notes of a Confucian Scholar, (tr. David L. Keenan). M.E. Sharpe, 1999. .

• The Shadow Book of Ji Yun: The Chinese Classic of Weird True Tales, Horror Stories, and Occult Knowledge (tr. Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum). Empress Wu Books, 2021. .

内容架构

《阅微草堂笔记》在时间上，主要搜辑当时代前后的各种鬼神狐仙、奇闻轶事等灵异故事劝善戒恶，在空间地域上，范围则遍及全中国远至乌鲁木齐、伊宁，南至滇黔，并旁及台湾、南洋等地。

赏析

评价

鲁迅在《中国小说史略》中对《阅微草堂笔记》有很高的评价：「惟纪昀本长文笔，多见秘书，又襟怀夷旷，故凡测鬼神之情状，发人间之幽微，托狐鬼以抒己见者，隽思妙语，时足解颐；间杂考辨，亦有灼见。叙述复雍容淡雅，天趣盎然，故后来无人能夺其席，固非仅借位高望重以传者矣。」

卷数

全集分五书，共二十四卷，1249则，约40万字。

• 书一《滦阳消夏录》六卷（卷一至卷六），作于乾隆五十四年（1789年）。

• 书二《如是我闻》四卷（卷七至卷十），作于乾隆五十六年（1791年）。

• 书三《槐西杂志》四卷（卷十一至卷十四），作于乾隆五十七年（1792年）。

• 书四《姑妄听之》四卷（卷十五至卷十八），作于乾隆五十八年（1793年）。

• 书五《滦阳续录》六卷（卷十九至卷二十四），作于嘉庆三年（1798年）。

刊本

《阅微草堂笔记》版本有:

• 嘉庆五年（1800年） 盛时彦合刊《阅微草堂笔记五种》。

• 道光十五年（1835年）刊本「二十四卷」。

• 2005年上海‧上海古籍出版社《阅微草堂笔记》刊本。并有各家之刊本不一而足。

译本

《阅微草堂笔记》有英文和意大利文译本：

• （英）Fantastic Tales By Ji Xiaolan，纪晓岚志怪故事选， Edited and translated by Sun Haichen，New World Press， ISBN 7800053571。

• （意）Note scritte nello studio yuewei，Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 1992，ISBN 8833906655。

注释