Literary politics in the Han.

摘要

This dissertation focuses on the Han dynasty in China (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) which was a formative period for the canonization of classical texts and schools of commentary. It was also a crucial time when scholars were defining their relationship to the state.; The pre-Han period presented the models and paradigms by which Han scholars measured their early progress. The ambiguities of their role in serving the state were already evident to the Confucians. It is at this intersection of the literary and the political spheres that a unique tension in Chinese intellectual life was first formed.; In Part One I have established the background of classical studies, investigating the system of the Six Classics with an emphasis on the history of the Book of Odes (Shih-ching) and its schools of interpretation. By following the careers of early Odes masters, I show how the Confucians attempted to monopolize classical studies just as they tried to reach a dominant position within the government of Emperor Wu (141-87 B.C.). Incidents which demonstrate the solidarity of the scholar group as well as the rivalries are noted throughout the dissertation.; In Part Two I trace the politics of school formation and examine the careers of some famous Odes scholars who influenced the course of government in the post-Emperor Wu period. Examples are given of the manner in which material from the Odes was used in political dialogue. I show the process by which schools were altered and expanded, and new schools admitted to official status--a trend which abruptly ends at the conclusion of the Former Han when attempts to gain official sanction for alternative texts are rebuffed. In looking at these alternative traditions such as the Tso commentary and the ancient text Documents, I expose the network of relationships among the adherents of these schools with those of the Odes. In the last chapter I look at the continuation of some of these developments into the first century of the Later Han.