“士尚志”与《史记》士人传记的书写

Scholars’ Cultivation of Noble Ambitions and Writing Paradigmof Biographies of Scholars in Shiji

《史记》在书写士人传记上取得的巨大成就,是士阶层在春秋战国之际出现并不断发展的结果。士人以“尚志”为特征,有着充分的生命自觉,人之一生成为一个值得欣赏、书写的审美对象,以“志”之确立、实现为线索,士人的一生行事也便于整合为完整的叙事。孔子重视“志”对于人生的领率作用,已经有省察、观照人生的意识,屈原抒写行志过程中的挫折、情绪,其诗歌具有强烈的自传性。在思索命运时,他们都援引古人、穷究天人,形成一种叙述士人生命历程的典型范式,为司马迁的传记写作提供经验。司马迁特别关注士人为行其志而做出的倜傥非常之事,在古今、天人的视野下探究命运的形成,为士人异彩纷呈的生命写照传神。

Great achievements have been made in writing the biographies of scholars in Shiji,which is the result of the emergence and continuous development of the scholar class during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.Scholars are characterized by the cultivation of noble ambitions and full life awareness.Human beings are born to be an aesthetic object worthy of appreciation and writing.With the establishment and realization of“ambitions”as clues,scholars’life-long activities can also be easily integrated into a complete narrative.Confucius attached great importance to“ambitions”in playing an exemplary role in life,and already had the consciousness of introspecting and contemplating life.Qu Yuan wrote about the setbacks and emotions in the process of realizing his ambitions,and his poems were strongly autobiographical.When thinking about their fate,they all quoted the ancient people and made a thorough inquiry of heaven and man,forming a typical paradigm for describing the scholars’life course and providing invaluable experience for Sima Qian’s biography writing.Sima Qian paid special attention to the scholars’unconventional and extraordinary things done by scholars in realizing their aspirations,explored the formation of destiny from the perspective of the ancient and modern times,and heaven and man,and vividly portrayed the scholars’colorful life stories.