中国传统纪传体史书“类传”概念研究

The Concept of Group Biography in Traditional Chinese Historical Works

“类传”是一种具有鲜明中国传统史学特色的史书体例。中国古代史家很早就将“以类相从”的编纂理念应用于纪传体史书编修实践之中,但“类传”这一名称在史学研究中得到广泛使用的时间却相对较晚。部分学者从“传以释纪”这一角度出发,提出某些专史性质的篇目也属于“类传”。“类传”和“合传”这两个概念之间存在着紧密联系,但“类传”在命篇、立意和叙事等方面都有着自身鲜明的特点,而通过介绍传中人物群体的事迹来反映特定时代社会风貌的“类传意识”则是“类传”概念的内在核心,部分通常被视为“类传”的篇目实际上缺乏“类传意识”,并非真正意义上的“类传”。“类传”概念体现了中国传统史学重视探讨历史人物和时代环境之间相互关系的优良传统。

Group biography is a style of historical writings with distinctive characteristics of traditional Chinese historiography.Chinese historians began the group-oriented compilation method in biographical histories in ancient time,but it was until relatively late that the name was widely recognized and used in historical research.Some scholars argue that certain titles of special histories also belong to group biography according to the principle of“biographies as interpretation of chronicles”.Different from combined biography,group biography has its own distinctive features in composition,intention and narrative,and its core is group biography consciousness,which attempts to reflect the social environment of a specific era by introducing a group of people in the biography.In fact,some of the titles usually regarded as group biography lack this consciousness and are not real group biography.The concept of group biography reflects the excellent tradition of Chinese traditional historiography that emphasizes the relation between historical figures and their times.