DISCURSIVE FLIGHTS: STRUCTURING STORIES IN THE SHUYI JI 述異記

Abstract

Abstract The Shuyi ji 述異記 (Notes Relating the Extraordinary), an anomaly account traditionally attributed to Ren Fang 任昉 (460–508), has received little attention, with most research focused on questions of authorship and dating, and rarely on the content itself. Despite its wealth of information about local geographic and cultural curiosities, the Shuyi ji contains relatively few stories, per se, and offers limited immediate literary appeal. The present study, however, argues that a reading of the work that focuses on structure reveals new possibilities about the value of this under-studied text. In the textual world of the Shuyi ji, distinct discursive strategies for recording anomalies emerge. Analysis of the relationship between the types of phenomena and the rhetoric of their representation uncovers a close connection between the nature of the extraordinary and the structure of its portrayal to raise new questions about the implications of the work’s categorization of knowledge.