‘Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Poems’ 蘭亭集序, by Wang Xizhi 王羲之 (309-c.365), has long been one of the best known pieces of Literary Chinese prose. Yet it does not appear in the seminal sixth-century anthology Wen xuan 文選. We will explore this omission by studying two prefaces on an identical theme that were included in Wen xuan.

The Classical and Literary Chinese Reading Group runs each Friday, between 3.00pm and 5.00pm. It brings together those with an interest in the textual cultures of the pre-modern period. It centres on the collective reading, translation, and discussion of a pre-circulated text. Texts are chosen by participants for their chronological, thematic, generic, and linguistic variety. The Group’s emphasis is on close reading and depth of philological understanding: the final aim is to produce a high-quality translation of the text at hand, and to acquire as precise a sense as possible of its linguistic structures and intellectual import. As part of this aim, the Group has played an instrumental role in several research publications.

 

For more information, please write to: mark.strange[at]anu.edu.au

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