郭实猎与中国近代传记文体转型

Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff and the Transformation of Biography in Modern China

1830年代,来华新教传教士郭实猎撰写了大量形态丰富的中文传记作品,对传记文体形式和写作技巧进行了多方面的探索。其所撰基督教人物专传,脱胎于《圣经》,取法乎圣徒传记,将叙事作为基本表达方式,也为中文传记史增添了新的文类。其所撰古代人物史传,将传记融于历史之中,综合吸收了中西史传的体例和描写刻画手法,兼具古今中外史记艺术之美。其报载现代人物传记,在历史上第一次借助近代传媒向大众介绍西方当代政治人物,不仅将传记从史传中独立出来,而且将欧洲传记的最新经验引入中国。郭实猎对传记文体的多方面探索,促进了中西传记文体的在交流互鉴,引发了中国传记文学的现代性转型。

Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff,one of the most controversial missionaries to China in the nineteenth century,has written numerous biographies in Chinese.His biography of of the biblical figures,which is derived from the Bible and based on the hagiographic tradition,uses narration as its principal form of expression.His historical biography,on the other hand,not only follows the tradition of Western classical biography,but also critically absorbs the style and artistic technique of Chinese biographies.Furthermore,Gützlaff’s biography in the newspaper focused on the whole life of the characters and artistically tried to create a sense of life,which separated the individual biography from the historical biography and marked the true independence of the biographical genre.Gützlaff’s exploration of the biographical genre has greatly influenced the biographical writing and promoted the independence and transformation of the biographical genre in modern China.