Award year: 2013
Category: Other Award
Awarding organization: The British Academy
Department of History. King's College London
Oriental and African Studies / Chinese language and literature
Li Deyu (787–850) and the Record of Failure and Grief
This project provides the first full translation and study of a collection of essays, called the “Record of Failure and Grief” (“Qiongchou zhi”), from the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907). Demoted chancellor Li Deyu (787-850) wrote the Record shortly before his death to fend off accusations of factionalism. Li concealed the deeds of his enemies in disquisitions on historiography and literature, Confucian ethics, alchemy, divination, Buddhism, etc., thus providing a unique insight into medieval Chinese philosophy and religion. The Record has its roots in a tradition of hiding frustrated political ambitions in intertextual allusions. The same tradition imposed rigid formal conventions on essays and limited the expressiveness of the genre, which led to its revolution in the 11th and 12th century. Through the Record, Li further entered into dialogue with his precursors and contemporaries, who had written essays on similar topics and among whom he ranks as one of the most prolific.