THE IMAGE OF THE GODDESS HSI WANG MU IN MEDIEVAL CHINESE LITERATURE

This dissertation is concerned with the retrieval, reconstruction, and exposition of the literary image of the highest Taoist goddess of the T'ang: Hsi Wang Mu, the Queen Mother of the West. Part One presents her Taoist image. Chapter One traces the goddess's development as a figure in the history of Chinese religion up to the T'ang. Chapters Two and Three consist of the study and translation of a T'ang hagiographical account of Hsi Wang Mu which contains the fullest exposition of the image of the goddess as it was perceived by T'ang authors. Part Two presents her image in T'ang poetry. Chapter Four sets forth the topoi in which the image of the Queen Mother of the West figures in T'ang poems, and shows how her image functions in the poetic context. Chapter Five consists of translations of T'ang poems which contain the image of the goddess. The poems draw upon the Taoist image defined in Part One, and at the same time exemplify the literary topoi described in Chapter Four.; To make a modern reconstruction of the medieval literary image, we must start with language. Taoist texts preserve examples of the image in religious language, while T'ang poems preserve examples in literary language. The image of the goddess in the T'ang poems represents the intersection of religious and literary language at a particular historical point. The image exists in scattered fragments, strewn all over the literary and religious landscape of medieval China. This dissertation attempts to gather the pieces together, to unify the image and see it whole again for the first time since the T'ang. This is both an exercise in philology and an act of imagination.; Rigorous philological analysis was a necessary first stage, to establish the meaning of these texts precisely. It then became possible to reconstruct credible images of the goddess in various ages and contexts. Secondly, I have tried to show the importance of religion, and Taoism in particular, in T'ang poetry. Finally, I have attempted to recreate a single image, the image of the Queen Mother of the West, for modern readers, in something approaching her original splendor.