论田原天南的《袁世凯》

Tennan Tahara’s Yuan Shikai:Interpretation Deforms the Portraiture

田原天南的《袁世凯》是日本人较早写作的一部关于袁世凯的长篇传记。此传深受西方传记影响,叙述了袁世凯从少壮时代到担任直隶总督时期的生平经历,尤其是重点叙述和分析了其'朝鲜公使时代''山东巡抚时代'和'直隶总督时代',指明这三个重要人生阶段对袁世凯成为晚清一流政治家所具有的决定性意义。同时,此传从其推行的各项改革措施以及处理与各国外交关系等方面,展现袁世凯在政治、军事、经济、社会文化以及外交等方面所具有的'大手腕''大经纶'。田原天南注重从人物关系的比较、个人禀赋与时代机遇的契合性来解释袁世凯的政治成功之路。然而,过度注重对传主政治人生的解释且生平资料掌握不够丰富,造成他笔下的袁世凯显得扁平化,在一定程度上也损伤了解释的客观性。

Tennan Tahara’s Yuan Shikai is a lengthy biography of Yuan Shikai written by a Japanese biographer.Under great influence of Western biography,this work depicts the subject’s life story that lasted from his youth to his officialdom as Governor-General of Zhili Province,China.Three phases of Yuan Shikai’s life are highlighted: ' Envoy to Korea', ' Governor of Shangdong Province',and 'Governor-General of Zhili Province',indicating that they are of decisive importance in the making of a top statesman in the late Qing Dynasty.Also,the book accentuates Yuan’s 'political hand' and 'art of wisdom' in terms of politics,military,economy,socio-culture and diplomacy from his reform measures and handling of foreign relations.Tahara tends to interpret the subject’s political success by comparing relations between characters,analyzing the pertinence of his endowment to opportunities of the day.The biographer’s over-emphasis on deciphering Yuan’s political career and insufficient materials of Yuan’s life story,however,results in a flat character of Yuan and undermines his interpretation accordingly.