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Shenguailu 神怪錄

Oct 5, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Shenguailu 神怪錄 "Records of gods and demons" is an early collection of stories from the Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420~589). The author is not known. The book seems to have been lost soon, and there is only one fragment surviving, the story Wu Xiang 吳詳 quoted in the Tang period 唐 (618-907) encyclopedia Beitang shuchao 北堂書鈔. It is included Lu Xun's 魯迅 reprint series Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉. The story narrates how Wu Xiang encountered the spirit of a beautiful girl. Lu Xun's collection includes another fragment recording the story of Wang Guo 王果 that actually i spart of Kong Shenyan's 孔慎言 Shenguaizhi 神怪志 from the Tang period, and not of the older Shenguailu.

Sources:
Li Shuihai 李水海 (ed. 1994). Zhongguo xiaoshuo da cidian 中國小說大辭典, Xian-Qin zhi Nanbeichao 先秦至南北朝, p. 834. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe.
Zheng Yunbo 鄭雲波 (ed. 1992). Zhongguo gudai xiaoshuo cidian 中國古代小說辭典. p. 19. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe.