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Genuine Words: Deception as a War Tactic and a Mode of Writing in Third-Century China

The late Eastern Han (roughly the Jian’an era, 196–220) through the Three Kingdoms (220–265) period witnessed a historic turn at which war, deception, and writing coincided in more intricate ways than ever before. By closely examining three cases of fabricated letters, I untangle the complex phenomenon of “writing in deception” from the lens of war tactic and mode of writing. My basic question is how and why writing created or facilitated new possibilities for deceit in war during this period. More broadly, how was a voice created in deception different from one that was “genuine”? What does “writing in deception” reveal about the nature and perception of literature or wenzhang 文章? My inquiries shed light on a fiercely pragmatic approach to writing, while exposing the line between “deceptive” and “non-deceptive” writings to be extremely fine and tenuous. Ultimately, these cases of fabricated letters challenge us to think about authorship and other properties of a literary work, such as authenticity, legitimacy, genuineness, and sincerity, as the results—that is, the effect and affect—of writing, and not the other way around.