Biographies of Jesters (滑稽列傳 Guji Liezhuan) Part One

Paragraph One: Preface

Confucius says, “All books of The Six Arts (Liuyi) share one common goal—the making of great leadership. The Book of Etiquette teaches moderation; The Book of Music hails harmony; Shangshu (尚書), a book of historical records, serves to hand down accounts of the ancient times; The Book of Poetry (or The Book of Odes) conveys human emotions; I Ching (易經; or The Book of Changes) turns ruling into art; Chunqiu, the chronicle of Lu (魯) the Dukedom, encourages justice and decency.” The Prefect of the Grand Scribes (i.e., Sima Qian, the Father of Chinese Historiography) says, “The world works in countless ways; there is no telling or teaching for each. A light-hearted talk may as well come to the point or settle a dispute.”

*孔子曰：「《六蓺》於治一也。《禮》以節人，《樂》(yue4)以發和(huo2)，《書》以道事，《詩》以達意，《易》以神化，《春秋》以義。」太史公曰：天道恢恢，豈不大哉！談言微中(zhong4)，亦可以解紛。
**The original paragraph in Chinese is taken from: Sima Qian. Ed. Han Zhaoqi. New Translation Shiji. vol.VIII. Taipei: Sanmin, 2008. 4939. (司馬遷. 韓兆琦 注譯. 新譯史記, 第八冊. 臺北市：三民, 2008. 4939頁. ISBN: 978-95-14-5001-8). All translation is based upon the text and annotations thereof (4939-4940).

***All translation is mine.

A Source Book of Literary and Philosophical Writings about Humour and Laughter

In Thankful Acknowledgment to Dr. Figueroa-Dorrego & Dr. Larkin-Galiñanes

As most of you perceptive blogviewers may have noticed, Dr. Jorge Figueroa-Dorrego and Dr. Cristina Larkin-Galiñanes' comprehensive anthology--A Source Book of Literary and Philosophical Writings about Humour and Laughter--has been the backbone of my blog and my first contact with the humor study up till now.

In chronological order, the Source Book is not only edited beginner-friendly but also academically exhaustive. It does help along my first navigation into the realm of humor and does equip me with a sense of direction in this study. Even in time of extreme fatigue, I'd like to re-read and share some passages from the Source Book by posting them intact without my own critique. Some examples among my blog posts, I believe, can best justify my act of sharing. The terse expressions, the pertinent choice of words, the classical attitude that speaks a modern mind...all these conspire together to egg me on to share their words and efforts.

This often leads to my beginning my blog post with a quasi-disclaimer, as long as I post  passages taken intact from the Source Book. Still, I have scruples. Until 10 days ago (January 10), my scruples were killed when I received a message. IT WAS FROM DR. FIGUEROA-DORREGO! He wrote to tell me I don't have to remove any article with his words in it. He believes more people can know about and hence benefit from the Source Book as a result. His reassuring and encouraging words are so rewarding to me in my first attempt at  humor study. I record here my warmest acknowledgments to him for his permission.

※ A note from Dr. Figueroa-Dorrego:

 http://alvindahn.blogspot.com/2011/01/lodovico-castelvetro-on-art-of-poetry.html#comments

※ A review of the Source Book:

 http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=7805&pc=9

※ Dr. Figueroa-Dorrego's current projects at Universidade de Vigo:

http://webs.uvigo.es/angelestome/start.html

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.