Abstract：Mao Wei, a representative of litterateurs who marked the trend of “writing from the heart” in the mid and late Ming dynasty, wrote most of his poetic drama to express his aspirations in the milieu of his time. His works are extremely valuable in studying the social reality and mentalities of the scholars in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Recently, three new materials about the creation of his poetic drama have been discovered by the author. The first is “Lingxiage Xinzhu Zongyin” in Mao Jiexi Ji, which can serve as the evidence that Lingxiage Neiwaibian is the general collection of Mao’s poetic drama, which contains 15 plays, all completed by the summer of 1637 when he lived in seclusion in Jiexi. The second is “Yi Yi Hu: The Drama Postscript of ‘Mei Naihe’ and ‘He Sheng Zhong’ written in the seventh year of Wuyin”collected in Mao Jiexi Ji, which demonstrates that Mao composed “Mei Naihe” and “He Sheng Zhong”. The third is “Lingxiage Neiwaibian Ciping Yin” in Guo Jun’s Shunzhi edition of Hongyingtang Ji collected by Japanese Cabinet Library. An overview of his 15 plays can hereby be ascertained: four extant poetic dramas “Zui Xinfeng” , “Qin Tingzhu”, “Jinmen Ji” and “Suyuan Weng” are included in Lingxiage Neiwaibian; and the names of eight dramas can be identified, that is, “Piqiao Nalü”, “Zhuyun Zhelan”, “Huangjin Tai”, “Lulong Sai”, “San Dao”, “Shang Taohua”, “Guanghan Gong” and “Xunchun Meng”; the other three dramas respectively depict Chen Liang of the Southern Song dynasty, Pei Kai and Wang Rong of the Jin dynasty, as well as Xian Gong. The author finds that “Mei Naihe” and “He Sheng Zhong”, and two other dramas which were discovered by the author (“Chunming Zuzhang” and “Yunhe Xunmeng”), and the academically well-known “Shuang Hehuan” and “Nao Menshen”, all have not been collected into Lingxiage Neiwaibian. The discovery of these three new materials is of great importance for the study of Mao Wei’s poetic drama. Firstly, the total number of his poetic drama has increased significantly from 8 to 21, coming out in front among the Ming dynasty dramatists.Secondly, questions have been clarified concerning the name of Mao Wei’s poetic drama collection, the writing time of his Lingxiage Neiwaibian and the number of poetic dramas included, and whether he created any other poetic dramas. Thirdly, the contents of his 10 new poetic dramas have been explored, including “Piqiao Nalü”, “Zhuyun Zhelan”, “Huangjin Tai”, “Lulong Sai”, “San Dao”, “Shang Taohua”, “Mei Naihe”, “He Sheng Zhong” and the dramas depicting Chen Liang of the Southern Song dynasty, Pei Kai and Wang Rong of the Jin dynasty. Finally and most importantly, the ideological content of these dramas and the creative intention revealed by the three new materials have displayed the characteristics of his drama, i.e., to express his emotions and aspirations through ancient settings and by writing from his heart. It also helps us to better understand his overall style of emotional creativity and his confidence in comparing himself to Tang Xianzu. Mao Wei’s position in the history of the Ming dynasty poetic drama deserves our further attention and research.
赵红娟. 感愤时事，托古慰志：茅维杂剧新资料的发现与内容探究[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2023, 53(10): 135-144.
Zhao Hongjuan. The Discovery of New Materials and Textual Research on Mao Wei’s Poetic Drama. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2023, 53(10): 135-144.
2023, Vol. 53 
