| This study will show how the early Tang was a rather pivotal period in how aspirants for office used literary works to enhance their official careers. The main focus of this work is the little known fu poet Xie Yan (ob. 643), a member of Tang Taizong's literary academy who was regarded by his peers as the master of the fu genre. Before his appointment to Taizong's academy he wrote two fu pieces, "Dust" (Chen fu) and "Shadow" (Ying fu). These were especially well-crafted philosophical pieces and fully annotated translations are provided. Another important issue that will be address is how the fu was once again being used as a means to make contact with and later influence the emperor. Xie Yan presented Taizong with a rather special form of praise in the form of a fu, which in the end would serve to remind the emperor of his great responsibility to continue acting in the upright manner that brought him to this pinnacle of power, and this piece is titled "On Sagacity" ("Shu sheng fu") for which a fully annotated translation is provided. Among all of his contemporaries, Xie Yan excelled in his attempts to emulate the earlier Han fu in both stylistic elements and pure didactic intent. Through the period of the Six Dynasties and into the Sui and Tang, the fu had continued to evolve, but in a direction that was towards smaller, more condensed works, that showed strong emotion, and often evoked images from the past that were designed to bring out specific emotional reactions. Many lessons had been learned over the long life of the fu, especially that longer more ornate pieces could have an adverse effect on the intended reader. By the time Xie Yan took up his brush, he had a clear goal that the fu he would create would have a clear didactic element, high artistic value, and most importantly of all would help him to promote his own cause in obtaining an official post. |
