The verbal and visual in traditional prosimetric literature

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In my trilogy of books and dozens of articles about medieval picture storytelling in South, Central, East, and Southeast Asia, I stressed the alternation of sung and spoken passages as performed by the narrator:

Tun-huang Popular Narratives (Cambridge University Press, 1983)

Painting and Performance:  Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian Genesis (University of Hawai'i Press, 1989)

T'ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China (Harvard University Asia Center, 1989)

Because of the close association with illustrative pictures to complement the narrative (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the pictorial narratives were being explicated by the accompanying texts), I stressed the alternation between spoken and sung portions, where the former told the story and the latter highlighted certain aspects of the tale.  This type of narrative has been well studied in various literatures around the world.  See Joseph Harris and Karl Reichl, eds., Prosimetrum:  Crosscultural Perspectives on Narrative in Prose and Verse (Martlesham, Suffolk, England:  Boydell & Brewer, 1997).

In the quintessential Chinese genre of this type of picture storytelling, biànwén 變文 ("transformation texts"), there is a distinctive pre-verse formula which marks the transition from prose to verse.  The typical form of this formula is "qiě kàn XX chù ruòwèi chénshuō 且看XX處若為陳說" ("just look at the place [where XX occurs], how shall I present it?").

The heritage of this conjunction of the visual and the verbal in later Chinese popular literature is evident in such prototypical vernacular novels as the 16th-century Xī Yóu Jì 西遊記 (Journey to the West)Zihan Guo has prepared the following materials which show the close formal and functional correspondence between the pre-verse formulae in transformation texts and in vernacular novels, where the tenor and content of the verse sections may be roughly divided into two types:

1. Descriptive, usually giving a panoramic, omniscient view of landscape / figure / fighting scenes, etc.
 
Chapter 1, when wild monkeys are having fun in the mountains and come upon a waterfall:
 
 
…直至源流之處,乃是一股瀑布飛泉。但見那
一派白虹起,千尋雪浪飛。
海風吹不斷,江月照還依。
冷氣分青嶂,餘流潤翠微。
潺湲名瀑布,真似掛簾帷。
 
Anthony Yu's lyrical translation:
 
…reaching its source, they found a great waterfall. What they saw was

A column of white rainbows rising.
A thousand yards of snow-caps flying.
The sea wind blows but cannot sever
What a river moon lights up forever.
Its cold breath divides the green glades;
Its branches wet the verdant shades.
This torrent named a waterfall
Seems like a curtain hanging tall.

The pre-verse formulas are truly variegated: 但見那, 正是那, 你看他, 真箇是… Sometimes 詩曰, 有詩為證, etc. (with meanings such as "just see that", "truly it was", "a poem says", "there is a poem as witness").
 
2. Didactic or commentarial.
 
Chapter 98, when the pilgrims have finally arrived in India. They first received the blank Buddhist scriptures, and were asked for money. Only after they offered the imperially bestowed almsbowl did they receive the textualized scriptures.
 
行者牽了馬,唐僧拿了錫杖,按一按毘盧帽,抖一抖錦袈裟,才喜喜歡歡,到我佛如來之前。正是那
大藏真經滋味甜,如來造就甚精嚴。
須知玄奘登山苦,可笑阿儺卻愛錢。
先次未詳虧古佛,後來真實始安然。
至今得意傳東土,大眾均將雨露沾。
Yu trans.

As Pilgrim led the horse, the Tang Monk took up his priestly staff and gave his Vairocana hat a press and his brocade cassock a shake. In delight they once more went before our Buddha Tathāgata. Thus it is that

Sweet is the taste of the Great Piṭaka,
Product most refined of Tathāgata.
Note how Xuanzang has climbed the mount with pain.
Pity Ānanda who has but love of gain.
Their blindness removed by Buddha of the Past,
The truth now received they have peace at last—
Glad to bring scriptures back to the East,
Where all may partake of this gracious feast.

Anthony Yu, in the introduction of his translation, points out the contribution of Buddhist literature, including biànwén 變文 ("transformation texts"), in motivating the use of verse in prose fiction.

 

Selected readings

  • "Texts and Transformations" (4/3/18)
  • VICTOR H. MAIR, ON "TRANSFORMATIONISTS" (BIAN]IA) AND "JUMBLED TRANSFORMATIONS" (LAZA BIAN):  TWO NEW SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF "TRANSFORMATION TEXTS" (BIANWEN), WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE PHONOTACTICS OF THE SINOGRAPHIC SCRIPT AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF OLD SINITIC (free pdf) 70 pages

 



2 Comments

  1. Rostislav Berezkin said,

    April 22, 2023 @ 4:58 am

    That's an important discovery!
    I can add that Xi you ji in the aspects of contents and several stylistic features is also related to baojuan (precious scrolls), a late imperial genre of prosimetric literature with predominantly religious contents, and may be genetically related to bianwen. This provides another interesting perspective on this novel

  2. Candy Windrow said,

    April 25, 2023 @ 2:07 pm

    The verbal elements of prosimetric literature include the words, phrases, and sentences used by the author to tell the story or convey a message. Same as Octordle. This can include dialogue between characters, descriptions of the setting or action, and narration. In prosimetric literature, the verbal elements often have a rhythmic quality, as the work alternates between prose and verse.

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