《汉书·艺文志》著录之《虞初周说》探佚

《虞初周说》是《汉书·艺文志》所著录的汉代小说家的代表作品。但只见于著录,未流传下来。称《周说》者,除《尚书》之《周书》和《逸周书》外,尚有唐宋人所引来历不明的所谓《周书》,而其内容或多解释性和知识性;或具传奇性和故事性之短篇。皆符合汉人对《虞初周说》的注释和方士小说的特点,故这些引文很可能就是《虞初周说》的佚文。

Inquiry into the Lost Texts of Yuchu zhoushuo Listed in Hanshu

Yuchu Zhoushuo is a representative work written by a novelist in Han Dynasty, which was listed in the chapter of Art and Literature in Hanshu and, however, the text itself was lost. Some works have been called as Zhoushuo, in addition to Zhoushu and Yizhoushu in the Books of Documents, there is so called Zhoushuo of unknown origin cited by writers in Tang and Song Dynasties, which contents give more explanations and knowledge, or include some short legends and stories. All these conform to the characteristics of the annotation of Yuchu Zhoushuo given by writers in Han Dynasty and of the novels on necromancers, and, therefore, these quoted passages are most likely to be the lost texts of Yuchu Zhoushuo.