范蠡:被塑造出的理想人物——以《国语》《史记》为中心

Fan Li: An Ideal Personage Shaped in Classical Chinese History Books—Illustrated by Discourses of the States and Records of the Grand Historian

千百年来,范蠡的相关事迹历来为人们所津津乐道。但通过对《国语》《史记》等材料的分析,我们发现史料中对于范蠡其人的记载存在"远略近详"的情况,而《史记》作为我们现今可见的最早关于范蠡系统介绍的文献,其所记又多有隐喻汉初历史人物,甚至是司马迁演义的成分。在掌握更多材料之前,我们更倾向于认为,如今我们对范蠡的认识,其框架来自于《史记》,而这与历史上真实的范蠡大相径庭。

For thousands of years,the stories and deeds of Fan Li have never failed to captivate successive generations of folks. Based on an analysis of related historical records in Discourses of the States and Records of the Grand Historian,it is found that the recordation of Fan Li is slightly pompous. To be specific,Records of the Grand Historian,which is the earliest literature to introduce Fan Li in a systematic way,depicts Fan Li in a rather metaphorical manner. To some extent,Sima Qian＇s version of Fan Li is tinged with an air of historical romance. Before more convincing historical materials become available,it is rather safe for us to conclude that there is a huge gap between our knowledge of Fan Li based on Records of the Grand Historian and the‘genuine＇version of Fan Li as it is in history.