Abstract
The canonization of A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu) is attributed to its publication and circulation by literati in the Southern Song dynasty. Existing studies have generally been focused on three editions of this book, namely the block-printed editions by Dong Fen, Lu You, Zhang Yan, whereas little attention has been paid to the fourth edition noted in the preface of Zhang Yan's edition. At the beginning of its appearance, the dissemination of A New Account of the Tales of the World was apparently marked by regional characteristics. It was printed in Jiangnan, Sichuan and Tanzhou, followed by the emergence of scholars who studied, annotated and disseminated as well as made exchanges about the book. Lu You, among others, was both a printer and a disseminator, traveling from Hunan to Sichuan and Jiangnan to make connections between scholars of different regions. During the book form's transition from codex to printing, the active participation of noted literary figures and the literati groups clearly registered how widely A New Account of the Tales of the World was circulated in the Southern Song dynasty. Such a phenomenon is of great academic significance in the history of the development of literary classics.
Keywords
A New Account of the Tales of the World;Tanzhou edition;exchanges between literati;regional circulation;Lu You
First Page
204
Last Page
214
Recommended Citation
Wang, Yijia. 2023. "The Editions of A New Account of the Tales of the World in the Southern Song Dynasty and Their Regional Circulation." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 43, (3): pp.204-214. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol43/iss3/21
