Historical Master Narrative and Liechao Shiji(列朝詩集)’s Construction of The Wanli(萬曆) Shanzuo(山左) Poetry History

The master narrative is an important characteristic of the writing of traditional Chinese literary history, and the construction of the Wanli Shanzuo poetry history in Liechao Shiji (列朝诗集) is a typical case. Qian Qianyi(钱谦益) use explicit means such as selecting individuals, arranging volumes, and writing biographies to enlarge the similarities and suppress the differences between the Wanli Shanzuo poetry history and the master narrative of Liechao Shiji, incorporate local poetry history into Guange and Qizi’s dispute of the master narrative. As for the conflicting and divergent parts between the Shanzuo poetry history and the main narrative of Liechao Shiji, Qian Qianyi tends to filter them out through implicit shielding strategies, obscuring the multidimensional aspects of Wanli Shanzuo poetics and maintaining the overall narrative consistency. Qian Qianyi’s construction of the Wanli Shanzuo poetics is actually based on the dispute between Liechao Shiji and Qizi’s main narrative. Qian uses religious terminology to create a critical discourse system which aims to critique Qizi’s metanarrative, and establishes a new matenarrative with the core of studying the classics through religious texts, forming a unique poetic historiography form.