Publication history

Ji Yun published five volumes of supernatural stories from 1789 to 1798: Written to Pass the Season at the Summer Resort (灤陽消夏錄) in 1789, So Have I Heard (如是我聞) in 1791, Jottings from My Haidian Lodging (槐西雜誌) in 1792, No Harm in Listening (姑妄聽之) in 1793, and More from the Summer Resort (灤陽續錄) 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. .

內容架構

《閱微草堂筆記》在時間上，主要搜輯當時代前後的各種鬼神狐仙、奇聞軼事等靈異故事勸善戒惡，在空間地域上，範圍則遍及全中國遠至烏魯木齊、伊寧，南至滇黔，並旁及臺灣、南洋等地。

賞析

評價

魯迅在《中國小說史略》中對《閱微草堂筆記》有很高的評價：「惟紀昀本長文筆，多見秘書，又襟懷夷曠，故凡測鬼神之情狀，發人間之幽微，托狐鬼以抒己見者，雋思妙語，時足解頤；間雜考辨，亦有灼見。敘述複雍容淡雅，天趣盎然，故後來無人能奪其席，固非僅借位高望重以傳者矣。」

卷數

全集分五書，共二十四卷，1249則，約40萬字。

• 書一《灤陽消夏錄》六卷（卷一至卷六），作于乾隆五十四年（1789年）。

• 書二《如是我聞》四卷（卷七至卷十），作于乾隆五十六年（1791年）。

• 書三《槐西雜志》四卷（卷十一至卷十四），作于乾隆五十七年（1792年）。

• 書四《姑妄聽之》四卷（卷十五至卷十八），作于乾隆五十八年（1793年）。

• 書五《灤陽續錄》六卷（卷十九至卷二十四），作于嘉慶三年（1798年）。

刊本

《閱微草堂筆記》版本有:

• 嘉慶五年（1800年） 盛時彥合刊《閱微草堂筆記五種》。

• 道光十五年（1835年）刊本「二十四卷」。

• 2005年上海‧上海古籍出版社《閱微草堂筆記》刊本。並有各家之刊本不一而足。

譯本

《閱微草堂筆記》有英文和意大利文譯本：

• （英）Fantastic Tales By Ji Xiaolan，紀曉嵐志怪故事選， Edited and translated by Sun Haichen，New World Press， ISBN 7800053571。

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

注釋