卷首语

Editor's Note

传记(life writing)是人类的纪念碑。文化的起源中就包含着传记的因素,孔子的《论语》、柏拉图的苏格拉底回忆录和'四福音书'为传记树立了不朽的经典。其他文学和文化的文本形式,大都随着时代的变迁而消亡,成为历史的陈迹,只有传记以顽强的生命力绵延不绝;到了21世纪更是超过曾经盛极一时的小说,成为文化文本中的最大类别。传统的他传、自传、回忆录、书信、日记、游记等继续繁荣,新兴的口述历史、群体传记又异军突起。

As a monument to honor human beings,life writing has permeated culture since its origin.Analects of Confucius by Confucius,the Socrates of Plato and The Four Gospels are immortal classics in the history of life writing.Despite the fact that most genres of literature and culture perish over time,life writing has persisted in a tenacious manner,and the twenty-first century is witnessing a golden age of life writing,which even surpasses the novel,the once-dominating genre.Life writing now is among the most esteemed of cultural texts.Such traditional forms as biography,autobiography,memoir,letter,diary and travel writing still maintain prominence and the emerging oral history and collective lives demonstrate intense momentum.Simultaneously,life writing,having crossed the border of textual medium into the domain of movies,TV,Internet and We Media,claims an ever new and extensive space with the potential for innumerable readers.An increasing number of people have taken to life wiring for themselves or for their loved ones,aspiring to erect an everlasting monument.In brief,the twenty-first century is an era of life writing.