西学东渐与中国现代传记文学观念的诞生

Introduction to Western Thoughts and Birth of China’s Modern Biography Writing Concept

现代传记文学是在“西学东渐”、审视传统的基础上诞生的。王韬、严复的创作标志着中国传记创作进入转型期，标志着以具体史实研究为主的纪实写作开始让位于以传播某种观念、满足读者阅读需求的文学写作。梁启超的创作开始全仿西人传记之体，胡适则自觉地从理论上比较分析中西传记的差异，率先明确地提出了“传记文学”的概念，并把推进传记现代化进程与五四文学革命运动结合到一起。郁达夫、朱东润等对现代传记文学的基本特征、分类、创作手法以及与古代传记、外国传记的联系和区别等理论问题，也作出了比较深入的探讨。西方传记作品的译介也改变了人们传统的传记写作观念，从而加速了中国传记现代转换的历史进程。

The birth of modern biography literature in China is closely related to the introduction of western thoughts and the re-evaluation of Chinese tradition. The writing of Wang Tao and Yan Fu marked its start and a clear sign is that the documentary writing based on concrete historical facts has given place to literary writing aiming at conveying thoughts and meeting readers' demands. Liang Qi-chao was the first to imitate and transplant western biography writing into China. More conscious of the differences of China's biography writing and its western counterpart, Hu Shi for the first time put forward the concept of “biography writing” and combined the modernization of biography writing with May 4~th Movement. Later, Yu Da-fu, Zhu Dong-run and others made further study in this field. In the meantime, the introduction of western biography works also changed the traditional concept and thus sped up the modernization of China's biography writing.