Sima Qian and Historical Records
As mentioned earlier, Sima Xiangru's Fu and Sima Qian's Historical Records are similar in expressing the consciousness of the times, but this does not mean that they are at the same height in thought and art. It is self-evident that there is a significant difference between the Fu written by Sima Xiangru, as a court literary attendant, to cater to the monarch's taste, and the Historical Records written by Sima Qian, as a dynasty historian but maintaining a relatively independent scholar status. Historical Records is not only magnificent, but also reflects the great oppression of the growing autocratic monarchy on social ideology and culture, recognizes the complex social contradictions of this era, and reflects the profound thinking on the history of human society, which Han Fu can't do. In fact, Historical Records is not only the greatest work of the Han Dynasty, but also one of the few great works in the whole cultural history of China. Sima Qian's life and his understanding of history and society
Sima Qian (former145—about former 87) was born in xia yang (now Hancheng, Shaanxi). His father, Sima Tan, is a knowledgeable scholar, who has deep research on astronomy, history and philosophy. His article "Six Classics" made a brief and unique comment on the main theories in the pre-Qin period. This is undoubtedly of great significance to Sima Qian's early education. When he was nearly ten years old, Sima Qian moved to Chang 'an with his father and took office as Taishiling. Later, he learned Chunqiu from Dong Zhongshu and Shangshu from Kong Anguo, which laid his knowledge foundation. At the age of twenty, he began to roam widely. According to the preface to Historical Records, this trip arrived in today's Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and other places, and visited the legendary Dayu site and the former sites of activities of historical figures such as Qu Yuan, Han Xin and Confucius. I became a doctor after roaming back and have been to Yunnan, Sichuan. Later, due to Liang Wudi's attendance, I went to more places. He wandered around almost all parts of the country several times. Roaming broadened his mind and horizons, exposed him to the lives of people from all walks of life, and collected information and legends of many historical figures. All this played a great role in his later writing Historical Records.
Sima Tan died in the first year of Yuanfeng (1 10 BC). Before he died, he entrusted Sima Qian with the unfinished business of writing history as his last wish. In the third year of Yuanfeng (108), Sima Qian succeeded Taishiling. Since then, he has tirelessly read the National Library, studied various historical materials, devoted himself to writing history, and participated in the formulation of taichu calendar.
In the process, a catastrophe happened. In the second year of Tian Han (99 BC), Li Ling fought against the Huns, and after a vigorous battle, she was defeated and surrendered. When the news came, Emperor Wu was furious, and courtiers followed suit and scolded Li Ling. Sima Qian was very angry, and the courtiers who enjoyed wealth were so unsympathetic to the generals who risked their lives, so he said that Li Ling surrendered out of helplessness and would wait for an opportunity to repay the Han Dynasty in the future. Li Ling failed because Emperor Wu appointed incompetent Li Guangli as commander in chief. Sima Qian's defense also angered Emperor Wu. Therefore, he was punished by "corruption". For Sima Qian, this is a great shame in life, far more painful than the death penalty. In this incident, he had a new understanding of the unreasonable power of the autocratic monarch and the situation that life was fundamentally oppressed by external forces. He once thought about suicide, but he didn't want his precious life to end worthless, so he "lived in silence" and sought the highest realization of life in the history of writing. This is exactly what a scholar can do to resist the arrogance and cruel fate of the monarch. Finally, Sima Qian gave a complete account of his fate and mood in his book Bao Ren An, written in Taishi four years (before this year). After that, his deeds were unclear, and he probably died in the last years of Emperor Wu.
Historical Records was originally named Taishi Gongshu, and was called Historical Records at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is the first book with a complete system written by individuals in ancient times. Total * * * one hundred and thirty volumes, more than five hundred and twenty thousand words, is also the largest book at that time. The book consists of five styles: biography, biography, biography and biography. Benji is the outline of the whole book, which describes the political traces of monarchs or actual rulers in the past dynasties in a chronological way. "Table" lists the major events in various historical periods in tabular form, which is the supplement and connection of the narrative of the whole book; "Book" is a record of special matters such as astronomy, calendar, water conservancy and economy. Shijia is a biography of hereditary families and people who sacrificed in previous dynasties, such as Confucius and Chen Sheng. Biographies are biographies of all kinds of people outside the family and family, some of which record the history of all ethnic groups in the marginal areas of China. Through these five different styles, Historical Records cooperate with each other and complement each other, forming a complete historical system.
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(1) Before Historical Records, historical works had the nature of data compilation and collation, and most of the authors were unknown, so it is hard to say that they were written by one person alone: books of various schools and factions were actually a compilation of documents of various schools, not by pioneers of various schools, and most of the articles were independent.
This genre is also referred to as "biographical style" for short, and has been slightly changed since then, becoming the general genre of official history in past dynasties.
The chronicle of Historical Records, from the time when people regarded it as the Yellow Emperor at the beginning of history to the early years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty when Sima Qian wrote this book (104- 10), covers all the territory of the Han Dynasty and all the surrounding areas that the author can understand. It is not only a summary of China's 3,000-year history in politics, economy and culture, but also the history of human beings and the world in Sima Qian's consciousness. In this extremely grand structure, there is an intention to explore and grasp the way of human existence fundamentally and integrally. For example, Sima Qian himself said in his book "Bao Ren An" that his goal is to "learn from the changes of ancient and modern times and become a family statement when studying the relationship between man and nature". Therefore, Historical Records cannot be regarded as a simple historical record. It has made great achievements in history, literature and philosophy.
Historical Records is listed as the first official history of China. Since then, the compilation of "official history" has never stopped, and it has merged into a long river of literary history, which can be called a miracle in the history of world historiography. However, the historical records are very different from the official records of later generations. With a few exceptions, the official history of the past dynasties after Historical Records was presided over by the imperial court and compiled according to the will of the monarch, which is a veritable official history. Although Sima Qian was a court historian, Historical Records did not reflect the will of the supreme ruler, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It is said that after reading the historical records, Liang Wudi was very angry with some of them and ordered them to be deleted. This is also possible (some historical records today are supplemented by later generations). So, what kind of position did Sima Qian stand on to write historical records? This is also one of the keys to understanding Historical Records.
What we need to pay attention to is that before the absolute authority of the monarch was established from Qin Shihuang to Han Wudi, the power of the monarch was restricted by the whole aristocratic group to some extent. In this context, historians not only enjoy a lofty position, but also have the obligation and right to "speak out". Sima Qian's ancestors were historians. Although he realized that in his own time, historians had been reduced to "being teased by lords, advocating superiority and storing them", he consciously inherited the ancient tradition of historians and did not want to turn his pen into a tool to praise the monarch.
It is also very important that Sima Qian has a special worship of Confucius. He is not completely convinced of Confucius' theory. He despises contemporary Confucian scholars, but he admires Confucius' personality, especially his grand ideal of establishing cultural norms for the world as an ordinary scholar. Sima Qian regarded his work of writing Historical Records as an inheritance of Confucius' career of compiling Spring and Autumn Annals, which made him occupy a lofty position in spirit. Broadly speaking, it also inherited the rational attitude and critical consciousness of pre-Qin philosophers.
The times endowed Sima Qian with a grand vision and the task of comprehensively summing up history. His extensive travel has given him an unprecedented understanding of society. The cruel fate urged him to think deeply about life and inherited the tradition of historians and the culture of pre-Qin philosophers. Sima Qian also established a relatively independent and critical writing position and would not yield to the arrogance of the monarch. Historical Records was produced in a special historical stage and personal experience. In this great historical record, Sima Qian's unique understanding of human history and society in many aspects is also vividly displayed.
First of all, as mentioned above, Historical Records is a critical work rather than an ode. Especially for the history of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian always kept a cold eye on the contemporary politics of Emperor Wu. On the premise of affirming the historical achievements of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, he mercilessly portrayed Liu Bang's rural hooliganism and selfish and despicable psychology. Sima Qian also boldly exposed his acts of appointing cruel officials, harming the people, cronyism, suppressing talents, superstition and abusing people's power. As for the various intrigues and brazenness of the bureaucratic class, it is even more colorful in his sharp pen. These expositions and criticisms have no tendency of uglification or simple negation, but concrete and credible historical records that reflect the true character of the characters. It reflects a profound suspicion and thinking: successful figures and people in power in history did not gain their status because of their noble quality and moral justice, as they claimed. Sometimes, on the contrary, people with high quality and abiding by morality often encounter misfortune and failure, just like Xiang Yu, who is far more honest and self-respecting than Liu Bang, and Li Guang, who is far more honest and brave than the emperor's favorite minister, inevitably end up committing suicide. Although Sima Qian did not reveal the laws behind these phenomena in theory, it was enough to inspire people to reflect deeply.
Historical Records is the first historical genre based on biography, and it is the first time to record history based on characters, which shows that people attach great importance to their position and role in history. Historical works in the past recorded people's historical activities, but these records were based on time or events, and people's dominant position was not fully realized and embodied. Moreover, on the whole, the characters in these historical works are limited to the upper classes of society, including tourists and counselors at most, and the second is limited to political figures. Although the figures described in Historical Records are still dominated by upper-level political figures, their scope has expanded to the whole society, including middle and lower-level figures and non-political figures. We can see that in Historical Records, emperors, governors, peasant leaders, ministers, generals, queens, eunuchs, writers, thinkers, assassins, rangers, businessmen, actors, doctors, Toy Boy and fortune tellers all show different aspects of human life, which together form a colorful and magnificent historical picture. In the history books before and after this, it is rare to see so many types of characters, especially those in the middle and lower classes of society. This shows that Sima Qian realized that society is a complex combination, and people from all walks of life play different roles in society. This kind of understanding, especially the attitude towards the middle and lower classes of society, is almost invisible in the general "official history"
Sima Qian further noticed: What kind of power dominates people's historical activities? He did not deny the power of morality, but also praised many gentlemen who insisted on "benevolence and righteousness", and even had some idealistic attitude in this respect. However, as a loyal observer and a profound thinker, he did realize and publicly put forward that it is people's material desires and the pursuit of life satisfaction that dominate people's historical activities. In the Biography of Huo Zhi, he took pains to enumerate many facts, proving that "the rich are keen on what they don't learn" and "from the son of heaven to Shu Ren" are "good interests". He attributed the fighting courage of the brave, the teenagers who robbed money and robbed tombs in the alley, geisha dancers who sold their erotic colors, fishermen and hunters who slept in the wind, gamblers who fought for each other's victory, doctors' painstaking research, various operations of agriculture, industry and commerce, and even officials who used knives and axes to get bribes to pursue wealth and material interests. Although this juxtaposition is difficult for many people to accept (because there is a difference between kindness and unkindness after all), Sima Qian realized at that time that the potential driving force of human historical activities was the pursuit of material interests rather than abstract moral principles, which was very remarkable.
To measure the status of historical figures, Sima Qian is based on their actual achievements, not what kind of fame they have gained. Xiang Yu never proclaimed himself emperor, but he was the master of the world for a period of time, and Historical Records of Xiang Yu was established. After the chronicle of Emperor Gaozu, it was the chronicle of Lv Hou, but there was no Chronicle of Filial Piety, because although there was the name of the emperor, it was actually just a puppet. Here, Sima Qian has no enthusiasm for Confucius' "correcting his name". Tai Shigong's Preface to Historical Records claims that one of the purposes of writing historical records is to make those who "help others, don't waste their time and make contributions to the world" famous for later generations. So he also appreciates people who are willing to be humiliated for a while in order to achieve extraordinary results. For example, Han Xin was not ashamed of his legs, and Lyu3 bu4, who once won the title of the three armed forces, was willing to be a slave. In Sima Qian's view, this is a feat that only a "strong man" can have. This also includes Sima Qian's life experience of enduring humiliation in order to complete Historical Records.
In Historical Records, there are certain ethical evaluation standards and awareness of praise and criticism. However, its standards are not completely in line with the interests of the ruling class or secular moral consciousness, nor are they narrow and single. Even there may be some contradictions before and after. For example, Biography of Uncle Boyi eulogized the loyalty of two virtuous gentlemen who didn't eat Zhou Su, while Biography of Guan Zhong praised Guan Zhong, who helped Gong Zijiu compete with Qi Huangong at first, refused to be martyred after his failure, and became an important official of Huan Gong after he was released from prison, saying that he was "shameless, but his humiliation and fame were not seen by the world". Rangers have a certain destructive effect on the social ruling order. Sima Qian clearly pointed it out, so it is better to praise their loyalty to rebirth and death. Even, Biography of Cool Officials strongly criticized the cruelty of cool officials, and Preface to Taishi said that "all people are smart, and good people can't be changed", so cool officials also have reasons to exist. This is not because Sima Qian's concept is chaotic, but because he saw the complexity of society itself and needed to understand the lifestyles of various people from a wide perspective. Even if he doesn't like the role, he should describe it as truly as possible and don't simply erase it.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Gu accused Sima Qian of being "absurd: on the road, Huang Lao followed the Six Classics first, while the sequence ranger retired to the adulterer, and he was ashamed of being poor when he talked about it" (Biography of Sima Qian in Han Dynasty). However, these are precisely the places where Sima Qian is far superior to Ban Gu's generation. It is precisely because Sima Qian has a unique and profound understanding of history and society, has great tolerance for the survival activities of various characters, is not bound by the Confucian ruling ideology being established, dares to despise secular moral dogma, and does not understand and describe people from a single theory, so Historical Records can become rich and broad, producing a unique charm, which is different from all other official histories in later generations.
Literary Achievements of Historical Records
Historical Records is a historical masterpiece as well as a literary masterpiece. When introducing the historical works of pre-Qin dynasty, we say that these historical works contain literary factors and components to a greater or lesser extent; This is far from enough for historical records.
Because the writing of historical records has literary motivation, this historical book itself has the nature of literature.
Sima Qian himself is a romantic poet. From Bao Ren An Shu and Historical Records, we can see his compassionate, emotional and impulsive personality characteristics everywhere. He got into trouble because of the Li Ling incident, which is also a tragedy of character. Because no matter from personal relationship or official position, he has no obligation to defend Li Ling. Yang Xiong at the end of the Western Han Dynasty said: "Children are more curious." (Fa Yan) also saw Sima Qian's romantic poet temperament.
"Historical Records" aims to "study the relationship between man and nature, connect the changes of ancient and modern times, and form a unified view". As we have mentioned before, this means not only summing up history and recording historical facts, but also vividly reflecting and studying human life style, human status in the world and various contradictions and dilemmas in human life through the activities of a large number of historical figures (many of whom are contemporary figures of the author). These are also the fundamental purposes of literature. However, as a historical work, Historical Records is limited to fiction.
Historical records also have the purpose of expressing feelings. The Book of Changes, The Book of Songs, Li Sao, etc. It all comes down to the angry behavior of the sages. This man has a sense of stagnation, so he can't understand his way, so he tells the past and thinks about newcomers. Therefore, he put forward the theory of "writing books with anger". This statement may not be completely consistent with the facts of his ancient writings, but it is completely consistent with the facts of Historical Records. While narrating the deeds of historical figures, Historical Records is permeated with the author's own life feelings, inner pain and depression, which is the key that we can't help but be moved when reading Historical Records under the Millennium. Lu Xun's "Outline of China Literature History" called "Historical Records", which is also focused on this point.
In order to achieve these goals, Historical Records used a lot of literary means and achieved great literary achievements. Below, we introduce it from three aspects: narrative art, characterization art and language art. It should be pointed out that the core parts of Historical Records-biographies, biographies and biographies are basically composed of biographies, which are story-telling and dramatic, and characters are created through these stories. Therefore, the so-called narrative art and characterization art cannot be divided into two parts. Just for the convenience of expression, we first analyze the narrative style and artistic characteristics of Historical Records as a whole, and then analyze how it shapes characters.
China's narrative literature experienced a long development process before it was recorded in history. There are quite a lot of descriptions of war scenes and complex historical events in the historical works of pre-Qin dynasty, which also contain many vivid and interesting stories, which provide a certain basis for historical records. The main interest of pre-Qin historians is to completely describe historical events from beginning to end, and express political and ethical judgments through these events, and their narrative attitude is mainly historical. In addition to describing historical events, Sima Qian is more conscious of trying to reproduce scenes and people's activities that have appeared in history; In addition to political and ethical judgments, it has a stronger sense of reflecting human life in many aspects. So his narrative attitude is obviously literary.
The narrative mode of Historical Records is basically the objective narrative of the third person. As a narrator, Sima Qian stood almost completely outside the event, and only in the last part of On Zan did he directly appear as a commentator and express his views. In this way, it provides a broad leeway for free narration and setting scenes. The so-called objective narrative does not contain the author's position and tendency, but just does not show it. Through the unfolding of historical events and the comparison of different characters in their historical activities, the emotional tendency of the narrator is actually reflected. This is what the predecessors said: "Narration contains praise and criticism". This implicit praise and criticism is conveyed through the infection of literature.
In order to reproduce the scenes and activities of characters in history, many biographies in Historical Records are composed of a series of vivid stories. For example, in the New Biography, there are stories about welcoming Hou Sheng, stealing symbols to save Zhao, and selling pulp scholars to travel far away. The Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru consists of stories such as Return to Zhao in Perfect Condition, Meet at Mianchi, and offer a humble apology. The main body of Sun Wu Zhuan is the story of the martial war. In Biography of Sun Bin, there are stories such as teaching Tian Ji to bet on horses and Ma Lingdao defeating Pang Juan. This situation is very common, too numerous to mention. Numerous stories, large and small, constitute the literary foundation of Historical Records. Although pre-Qin historical works also contain stories, compared with historical records, except for a few stories in the Warring States Policy, they are not only much less in number, but also much simpler. Future historical works will no longer be like Historical Records, which is one of the reasons why Historical Records has special literary charm in many historical books in China.
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(1) There is also an inevitable factor that history and literature are gradually separated.
Many stories in Historical Records are very dramatic. Sima Qian seems to like to unfold his own story in vivid scenes and sharp conflicts. The characters in the book express themselves directly, making readers almost forget the existence of the narrator. Such as the scene in the biography of General Lee:
(Li Guang) Taste the night of horses and drink the fields of people. I also went to Baling Pavilion, and Commander Baling was drunk. Guang Qi said, "So General Li also." Wei said, "Generals are not allowed to travel at night. Why not?" Stop at Guangsu Pavilion.
This seems to be a good drama sketch. In addition, a famous story like The Hongmen Banquet is simply a one-act drama with one climax after another. The appearance, exit, expression, movement, dialogue and even the orientation of the seat of the characters are clearly explained. This story can be rewritten into a real drama and performed on the stage without much effort. This dramatic story has many advantages: first, it has realistic literary performance effect; Secondly, it avoids long and slow narration, has tension and produces the activating force needed by literature; Third, in sharp conflicts, it is the easiest to show the personality of the characters.
Historical Records is famous for its "record", which shows that Sima Qian's attitude towards history is serious, neither ostentatious nor secretive. But the vivid stories in his works cannot be completely true. In order to pursue vivid artistic effects and appeal to readers, he used a lot of legendary materials, and he was bound to fabricate details. This is a typical literary narrative method.
In addition, The Law of Mutual Understanding initiated by Historical Records has both historical and literary significance. The so-called "cross-examination" means that a person's events are scattered all over the country, mainly based on his own biography; Or scatter the same thing in different places and concentrate on one place. Sima Qian used this method not only to avoid repetition. In order to make each biography have aesthetic unity and artistic integrity, it is necessary to write only the main characteristics and experiences of the characters in each biography, while in order to make the whole historical record have historical authenticity and integrity, it is necessary to supplement the secondary characteristics and experiences of the characters in other places. This is the meaning of the law of mutual understanding. Because Historical Records is based on characters, it is often necessary to cover the same thing in many biographies. In order to avoid repetition and make the event clear, Sima Qian described the same thing from different angles in different biographies, which not only highlighted everyone's role in this event, but also did not give people a sense of repetition. This is the significance of the method of observing events with each other. Through mutual understanding of characters and events, Sima Qian made Historical Records both credible in history and readable in literature.
In terms of characterization, past works have also accumulated. In Zuo Zhuan, we can see some characters with certain personalities. The description of characters in Warring States Policy is more detailed and the character is more distinct. However, because they are all based on historical events, the description of characters is only scattered in the narrative and lacks integrity. In addition, it is also worth noting to write about a person, such as Yan Zi in Spring and Autumn Annals. However, it is just a collection of many stories of Yan Zi, and there is no internal connection between them. In a word, there was no complete biography before the Han Dynasty, and characterization was relatively simple on the whole. On this basis, Historical Records has made great progress and raised the characterization art of China literature to an epoch-making new height.
Generally speaking, Historical Records has three characteristics: a large number, rich types and distinctive personality. It consists of a large number of personal biographies, including nearly 100 successful and impressive ones, such as Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Sean, Han Xin, Li Si, Qu Yuan, Sun Wu and Jing Ke. As mentioned above, these characters come from all walks of life, engage in different activities and experience different life fates. From emperors to civilians, there are winners and losers, heroic heroes and shameless villains. Together, * * * has formed a colorful character gallery. These characters all have their own distinct personalities. People with different identities and experiences are certainly different from each other, and people with similar identities and experiences will not be confused with each other. Sean and Chen Ping are both wise men under Liu Bang. One is complete honesty, and the other is inattention to details. The cruel officials appointed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were corrupt and incorruptible. These not only give us historical knowledge, but also give us rich life experience.
Sima Qian also had a preference for various historical figures. That is "curiosity", that is, I like extraordinary people who are full of energy and outstanding talents. Those insurgents who rose up to rule the world, those heroes who looked timid and complacent, those chivalrous men who did not occupy power and shocked the world, those heroic and invincible generals, those assassins who shed five steps of blood, those resourceful and weak scholars, and even those extremely rich widows, beautiful women who dared to sympathize with others to elope ..., these extraordinary figures constitute ". Therefore, Historical Records is full of romantic feelings and legends. In particular, reading the biographies of people during the great historical changes in Qin and Han Dynasties as a separate part is like a heroic epic.
Sima Qian pays special attention to the great changes in the fate of characters in the process of describing their lives. For example, he writes about great men with great achievements and often writes about how they were despised when they were humble. While writing about come to a bad end's great men, I often write about how arrogant they are when they succeed. The former is Liu Bang, Han Xin and Su Qin, while the latter is Xiang Yu, Li Si and Tian Heng. In the process of this change, the common weaknesses of people at that time were fully exposed, such as snobbery and revenge. For example, when Liu Bang was humble, his sister-in-law didn't give him food and his father didn't like him. After his success, Liu Bang refused to forget to laugh at them. After Li Guang was dismissed, he was despised by Pakistan. After he was reinstated, he killed Ba Lingwei under the pretext. Han Anguo committed a crime and was imprisoned. The little jailer bullied him. After his comeback, he specially asked the jailer to bring up the past. These stories of fate change and revenge can best show the relationship between man and environment and status, and reveal the complexity of human nature.
Sima Qian knows very well that people who cater to the society and the secular often get happiness; On the other hand, it is also prone to misfortune. He often uses comparative methods to express his views. For example, Su Qin, an outstanding writer of Su Qin Biography, was stabbed to death, while his mediocre brothers Su Dai and Su Li enjoyed their lives; In Biography of Zhufuyan, Hou, it is recorded that Zhufuyan was sharp-edged and killed, but GongSunHong was ugly, but enjoyed wealth. But Sima Qian never praised the mediocre, miserable and petty life. The most magnificent and touching thing in Historical Records is the tragic fate of the heroes. Biography of Xiang Yu wrote that Xiang Yu finally committed suicide, but it took one or two thousand words. As a historical record, it can be said that it is unnecessary; As a literary work, it has a dripping and hearty effect. When Xiang Yu could escape, because he had no face to see his elders in Jiangdong, he drew his sword and tightened his neck. Li Guang's death is unforgivable, just because he doesn't want to be humiliated by knife and pencil collectors for the rest of his life. Qu Yuan threw himself into the river for lofty ideals. In this recurring tragedy, Sima Qian showed noble people's strong struggle against fate. He told people that even if fate is invincible, people's will is unyielding. From this, we can see the heroic spirit of life in the culture of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and sigh for it again and again.
For the characters described in Historical Records, people can strongly feel their vivid faces and exposed faces. For example, Zheng Qian Saito, a modern Japanese scholar, said: "If you read a history book, if you directly see people at that time, you can hear their words with your own eyes, which makes people feel happy at first sight, and you are afraid of crying at first sight and can't stop." How did this artistic effect come into being?
First of all, Historical Records pays attention to and is good at describing the appearance and expression of characters, making the characters visible. For example, Sean looks like a woman and a good girl, Li Guang looks like an ape with arms, Cai Ze's nose, shoulders, face, knees and so on. Although simple, they all have their own characteristics. Moreover, Sima Qian rarely simply describes the appearance of the characters, but always has some hidden or obvious connection with the characters' personalities, so it leaves a deep impression on people. For example, after reading Sean's biography, it's hard for us to forget his "like a woman, a good woman". Descriptions of facial expressions abound. Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru wrote that Lin Xiangru established Qin, and the king of Qin wanted to seize jade, as if he were "holding the jade pillar and trying to strike it", "looking at it with his eyes open, both sides will be exhausted" and "rushing to the top in anger", as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
The description of life details is the basic means for literary works to shape characters, express their personalities and show their inner world. This rarely appears in general historical works, but it is quite a lot in Historical Records. The biography of Li Si begins with a passage like this:
(Reese) When I was young, I was a county magistrate. When I saw the rats and dogs in the toilet of the official residence, I was terrified. When you enter the warehouse, you can see that the mice in the warehouse eat millet and live under big guards, and you can't see the worries of people and dogs. So Lisnai sighed, "Man's virtue is unworthy, and his arms are like rats. He's in his ear! " I learned the art of emperors from Xun Qing.
From a purely historical point of view, such trifles are worthless. But from the literary point of view, it reveals Reese's personality characteristics and life pursuit very concretely and profoundly. Another example is Zhang Tang's dismemberment of mice as an old official when he was a child, Liu's bold hooliganism when he was a child, and his thought of killing the world for the villagers, and so on. , are through trivial events to present the character's personality, avoid abstract comments on the character. Naturally, in this description, there are inevitably elements of legend and fiction.
Dialogue can best reflect the life experience, cultural accomplishment and social status of the characters, which is also emphasized in Historical Records, with many excellent examples. Liu bang, Xiang Shi