5p.Qian,Part 1,Spirit and Self - ScholarSpace

Shih-shuo t’i, the Term and the Genre 19
others there are also ‘Recognition and Judgment,’‘Appreciation and Praise,’
‘Classification and Embellishment,’ and so forth. [This classification] obviously
results from Later Han gentlemen’s practice of ranking and characterizing
human types.” 8
Ch’en’s observation puts us on the right track for pursuing the origin
of the Shih-shuo classification, but it leaves us with more questions than
answers: What is the nature of p’in-t’i jen-lun? When, how, and why did
it arise, flourish, and then fade? Who participated in it, with what purposes
and what consequences, and upon whose standards and by which
methodology? How was it related to the classification of the Shih-shuo hsinyü
and then the formation of the Shih-shuo t’i? Why did it lead to this kind
of classification instead of others? My major task in Part 1, therefore, is
to search for possible answers to these questions, using evidence mainly
drawn from the Shih-shuo hsin-yü itself. Based on this exploration, I hope
to redefine the Shih-shuo t’i as a new literary genre in its own right and
with its own unique raison d’être. Such a self-invented genre, as I shall
also argue, was created by and hence reveals the salient features of the
Wei-Chin period.