Translation Project: Biographies of Jesters (Guji Liezhuan 滑稽列傳) from The Record of the Grand Historian (Shiji 史記)

Picture joined with graphics taken from:
(upper left) 淳于髡 http://hanyu.iciba.com/wiki/342688.shtml;

(upper right) 西門豹 http://www.jpcai.com/Html/yuwen3_46_8368.html;

(lower left) 東方朔 http://www.epochtimes.com.au/b5/10/4/5/n2867151.htm;

(lower right) 優孟 http://bbs.voc.com.cn/archiver/tid-2031406-page-2.html.

January 18, 2011.

In the West, fools and jesters have enlivened numerous masterpieces of  literature; in the East, witty courtiers have dubbed the history with diverse humorous tones. While the former display the functions of humor in fiction, the latter have humor put to use in fact.

In Sima Qian's Shiji (史記), or The Record of the Grand Historian as often known in the West, a whole section is devoted to guji (滑稽), an equivalent for humor in Chinese (cf. http://alvindahn.blogspot.com/2010/09/sima-qian-biographies-of-jesters-or.html). This section is therefore entitled "Guji Liezhuan" (滑稽列傳), literally a series of biographies of the humorists, and is often translated into English as "Biographies of Jesters." Composed of biographies of seven witty historical figures, almost all directly related to the court, "Guji Liezhuan" actually comes in one single chapter instead of several. With its paragraphs echoing each other, a figure can be depicted in one paragraph as the main character and later mentioned in another as a contrast. A clear-cut separation of one specific humorous figure from another is impossible.

Because a translation of "Guji Liezhuan" is often requested, and because a complete, fully annotated on-line version is hard to find, I decided to come up with my own translation, neither because I am confident nor because I am competent, but because there is a need and I am, as a student of humor, obliged. My translation will come in the original paragraphing in case of any misunderstanding or mistakes. All text will be covered in the hope of a faithful, complete translation.

The seven humorists, or jesters, are (in Guji Liezhuan's original order): Chunyu Kun (淳于髡), You Meng (優孟 ), You Zhan (優旃), Guo Sheren (郭舍人), Dongfang Shuo (東方朔), Wang Xiansheng (王先生), and Ximen Bao (西門豹).* The annotated Chinese edition of Shiji my work of translation relies on will be:
司馬遷. 韓兆琦 注譯. 新譯史記, 第八冊. 臺北市：三民, 2008. (ISBN: 978-95-14-5001-8)
(Sima Qian. Ed. Han Zhaoqi. New Translation Shiji. vol.VIII. Taipei: Sanmin, 2008.)

*It is to be noted that some of these names are part name and part title, or part name and part honorific address. Instead of giving a detailed explanation to each, I shall explain later in the annotation to the first-mentioned paragraph.