Sushuo 俗說

Sushuo 俗說 "Popular Stories" is an early collection of stories compiled by the Liang period 梁 (502-557) writer Shen Yue 沈約. The 3 juan "scrolls" long book included stories similar to those of the famous Shishuo xinyu 世說新語, where meetings and discourses of contemporary scholars are narrated. The imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書 includes two books of this title, one among the "miscellaneous writers" (zajia 雜家), and one among the novellists (xiaoshuojia 小說家), in a remark to the Shishuo xinyu, where it is said that the Sushuo was already lost at that time, while the "miscellaneous" Sushi by Shen Yue was still existing. The Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ma Guohan 馬國翰 supposed that the lost book was written by Liu Xiaobiao 劉孝標. Today, both books are lost, and of Shen Yue's Sushuo only fragments have survived that are included in Ma's reprint series Yuhan shanfang jiyi shu 玉函山房輯佚書, as well as in Lu Xun's 魯迅 collection Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉.