<i>Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance: Essays on the</i> Shishuo xinyu

Given the immense importance of the Shishuo xinyu in Chinese and East Asian literary and intellectual history and historiography, not to mention the delights that the anecdotes gathered in this massive collection have in store for their readers, scholarship on Shishuo xinyu in English or other Western languages is surprisingly scant. Before Jack W. Chen's Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance: Essays on the Shishuo xinyu, two decades had passed without a book dedicated to the collection, and articles have been few and far between. Chen's book constitutes a major contribution not only to the study of Shishuo xinyu but also to our understanding of early medieval Chinese literature, culture, and history, and as such it will surely provide further inspiration to scholars and students to turn to this text.Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance consists of eight chapters, two of them serving as introduction and conclusion. Although the chapters pursue distinct inquiries, they are held together by Chen's general understanding of the collection as well as by several recurring questions and foci. Rejecting the widespread view that the Shishuo xinyu is a primarily historical work, Chen proposes to read the text “as engaged in two interrelated, literary projects that are articulated through the form of the anecdote: (1) the discursive imagination of a particular cultural community; and (2) the narrative rehearsal and exemplification of particular cultural arguments” (9). Among the points of conversion that reappear throughout the book are the Shishuo xinyu's pervasive concern with the issues of “knowing men” (zhiren 知人) and of reputation, or “being known” (zhiming 知名), and the notion of “gentlemen of repute” (mingshi 名士).The characterization of the genre of the anecdote that Chen offers in the introduction is rooted in a comprehensive awareness of theoretical approaches to the form in a range of disciplines, from the classics to modern and contemporary critical theory. The author follows this pattern in almost every one of the chapters, be it with regard to medieval manuscript culture (chapter 1), social networks (chapter 2), theories of gossip and reputation (chapter 3), concepts of praise and insult (chapter 4) or mourning (chapter 6). He thus not only meaningfully embeds the discussion of early medieval Chinese literature in broader discourses in Chinese studies and the humanities as a whole but also provides relatively accessible synopses that will be useful in the teaching of the material at hand for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.Chapter 1 provides the so far most comprehensive textual history of the Shishuo xinyu in English, based on a thorough analysis of traditional and recent Chinese scholarship on the topic. Chapter 2 highlights “the network of social relationships” (60) among the 720 persons populating the more than 1,100 anecdotes. Chen uses network visualizations as well as a “walk through the network” that ingeniously connects the first anecdote of the Shishuo xinyu to the last anecdote of the collections (74–88). Chapter 3 starts with definitions of gossip and reputation, which are then explored through the interpretation of a number of exempla. Chen concludes that the main interest of the verbal exchanges presented in the anecdotes “resides not in philosophical argument but in public performance and the establishment thereby of one's social reputation” (121). Chapter 4 deepens the understanding of performance and the contesting of reputation in the Shishuo xinyu by focusing on anecdotes about praise and insult, while the values of competence and composure are at the heart of chapter 5. In this as in every other chapter, Chen offers eloquent, perceptive, and often original readings of the anecdotes, whether they belong to the most celebrated pieces in the collection or are rather obscure. Chapter 6 first introduces early Chinese notions of mourning from the perspective of ritual versus sincerity and then discusses how the Shishuo xinyu deals with mourning. Following his brilliant and empathetic interpretations of several anecdotes, Chen proposes that “the performance of affective sincerity” had become “a new behavioral norm for the cultural community of the Shishuo, superseding in many ways the older ritual discourse on mourning” (209). In the book's conclusion, Chen addresses the creation of cultural memory as yet another central concern of the Shishuo xinyu, both in general terms and in particular for the time after the retreat of the Jin court to the south in the early fourth century.Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is a learned, informative, and accessible book that profoundly enriches our appreciation of the Shishuo xinyu and early medieval Chinese culture. It is to be hoped that it finds a broad audience, including readers primarily interested in other periods of Chinese history or in medieval and literary studies of other cultures.