A Taeko Brooks
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
The Jwangdz Inner Chapters
Panel: The Sorting That Puzzles Things Out
AAS Convention, Washington DC, 7 April 2002

Abstract

A C Graham's 1979 vocabulary statistics (though Graham himself thought otherwise) show that no two of the Jwangdz "Inner Chapters" (JZ 1-7) resemble each other stylistically, hence no two imply a common authorship. The 1994 statistics of Liu Xiaogan (though Liu himself drew the opposite conclusion) provide further proof. No edition of the Jwangdz before the Six Dynasties identifies these chapters as a group, with or without the label "Inner." No pre-Chin text which is aware of the Jwangdz at all is aware of only the "Inner Chapters." Instead, Lw-shr Chun/Chyou quotations focus on JZ 28 ("Renouncing Kingship"), and Han statements identify such high-numbered chapters as JZ 29 "Robber Jr" as the work of Jwang Jou. On this evidence, there can be no first presumption that JZ 1-7 are a group, let alone a group possessing special authenticity. They are thus available for study de novo.

My own study of the matter so far concludes that the first two of these chapters, JZ 1-2, are philosophically mature, and may have been added late in the text's formation process. JZ 3-7, on the other hand, appear to be the records of five distinct and relatively early authorship groups. In this paper, I will show how analogous responses to the same contemporary issues are reflected in two selected chapters, JZ 4 and JZ 6. And how those same issues are equally, if differently, reflected in several non-"Inner" chapters.

The date of these chapters is closely fixed by the relationship between JZ 4:7 and a parallel Analects passage (LY 18:5). Analects 18, in turn, is from the Tswei Shu or late layer of that text. For other reasons, the Tswei Shu Analects cannot be as early as the late 04c date usually assigned to Jwang Jou. I find no grounds for dating this or any other part of the Jwangdz before the early 03rd century.

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1 Nov 2001 / Contact The Project