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Guishen liezhuan 鬼神列傳

Mar 13, 2024 © Ulrich Theobald

Guishen liezhuan 鬼神列傳, full title Xieshi guishen liezhuan 謝氏鬼神列傳 "Master Xie's many biographies of ghosts and sprites" is a collection of stories of bizarre occurrences and persons written by a certain Master Xie 謝氏, whose identity and dates of life are unknown.

The book is mentioned in the bibliographical chapter Jingji zhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書 among the "miscellaneous biographies" (zazhuan 雜傳), indicated with a length of 1 juan. Yet, the book catalogue in the Xintangshu 新唐書 lists it in the novellist category (xiaoshuojia 小說家), and indicates the length as two fascicles.

One single story survives, which is quoted in the Song-period 宋 (960-1279) encyclopaedia Taiping yulan 太平御覽. It is reproduced in Lu Xun's 魯迅 (1881-1936) collection Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉.

Sources:
Li Shuihai 李水海, ed. 1994. Zhongguo xiaoshuo da cidian 中國小說大辭典, vol. Xian-Qin zhi Nanbeichao 先秦至南北朝卷, 824. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe.
Zheng Yunbo 鄭雲波, ed. 1992. Zhongguo gudai xiaoshuo cidian 中國古代小說辭典, 17. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe.