History books come first, just as Herodotus did to Greece, we also regard Sima Qian as the "father of history". It is not a narrow history book that lists emperors and princes based on dynasties and breeds in the rise and fall of a surname. On the contrary, it has a broad vision and broad mind, which preceded it and made a summary; After it, it made a prediction. It is a "great history" that began in Xuanyuan and ended in filial piety. "The change of ancient and modern times is poor in the study of heaven and man." It is about ancient history, modern history and contemporary history at that time. In particular, his narrative is vivid, and his pen melts feelings, which makes people not boring to read, but more interesting to think about. Mr. Lu Xun praised it as "a historian's swan song, leaving Sao without rhyme"
Sima Qian used a lot of materials to write historical records. Among them, there are not only books and archives collected in the Golden Chamber of Stone Chambers (National Library and Archives of Han Dynasty), but also old rumors of his investigation and interview, including social investigation and oral history. Sima Qian's "Unique Biography of Six Classics, Qibai Miscellaneous Words" is an important way for us to get a glimpse of pre-Qin history from Han Dynasty thought. Not only that, it also involves poetry, art of war, mathematical skills and folk skills, including many important contents specially studied in later collections and sub-collections, and it is also an encyclopedic knowledge collection. It is only one of the four books, but it plays a key role in the study of the other three books (receiving classics, giving birth to children, initiating history and gathering classics). To borrow an old saying, it is "drawing inferences from others". So to some extent, historical records are a key to reading ancient books, especially for early scholars.
Reading historical records, in addition to historical materials, editing style is also very important. The style of this book,
It is based on "lineage as classics", "chronology" and "chronicle", and it is comprehensive, not simply composed of biographies. Formally imitate the genealogy of early aristocrats. Sima Qian wrote history with "people" as the center and "genealogy" as the framework. According to Shiben and a large number of genealogies preserved in Han Dynasty, it can be divided into "space" (country, region and county) and "time" (dynasty history, national history and family history), and "people" and "things" under "space" and "time". Its twelve biographies, thirty families and seventy biographies, and Biography is about "Ben"; "aristocratic family" refers to "the world", that is, the "branch" of the genealogy; Biography is about the characters under the "world", that is, the "leaves" of the genealogy. This is the main body of this book. Its genealogy and family are narratives of different countries and chronicles, which are used to control later biographies. In addition to biographical and aristocratic families, there are also "ten tables" that meet each other, forming the space-time framework of the book. Among its "Five Biographies", only "Eight Books" are about laws and regulations, with poor concept of time and space, belonging to structural description. Although Sima Qian was born in the Han Dynasty, he made "great history". For him, it is most convenient to get through the past and contact the present. This is where we should understand him.
Sima Qian's Historical Records is not only profound, but also highly generalized. More importantly, it can save pen and ink, truth and doubt, and try to preserve the freshness of historical materials by intertextuality.
The book Historical Records is great, and its author is even greater. We should "read his books and treat him as a human being", so we must read his Preface to Taishi Gong and Letter to Ren An. Preface to Taishi is of course very important, because only by reading this article can you understand his academic background and creative process, and know that he has a family background and was taught by a famous teacher. He has a sophisticated life and a sophisticated writing style. But what can't be ignored is that he also has a "report to Ren An". If Preface to Taishi is Sima Qian's "academic history", then Bao Ren An Shu is his "spiritual history". Because this is a spiritual dialogue between a person who wants to die and a person who is about to die, every sentence is from the heart, saturated with love for life and pain for death. His humiliation, fear, grief and indignation, burning internal organs and sweating on his back are hard to understand unless he is there.
In my opinion, Sima Qian was attacked by General Li (Li Ling) and pushed down by everyone. In my opinion, it is Lu Xun's "backbone" who dares to "shout traitors". He and general Li, one is a civilian and the other is a military commander. They are interested in different roads, and they have never had a glass of wine to make love. They can give up their jobs and lives and stand up and speak bravely. This has been the courage of all. What is more difficult is that after this "unexpected trouble", he can extricate himself from the quagmire of fate and write books with indignation, which has made him famous. After reading Bao Ren An Shu, I have some feelings: history is not only a kind of knowledge accumulated by the dead, but also an experience shaped by the living. This life experience and desire to transcend life are the same spirit that runs through literature, art, religion, philosophy and history. Historians are particularly important in this kind of "transcendence". The reason why they can combine many lives outside themselves into a magnificent historical river is because they project their own lives into it. I think that Sima Qian is Sima Qian and historical records are historical records. People are chivalrous and books are chivalrous, which is related to this life experience.
It is easy to look at history with personal honor and disgrace, but Sima Qian can keep sober and objective when talking about history. Even when he writes about contemporary affairs, he can control his emotions even if he hurts his skin. At most, he expressed his feelings in praise, which was beyond his life. He participated in history. He will never get confused.
I appreciate Sima Qian's praise and literary description. Because it is in such words that we can get a glimpse of his personality and then understand his vivid pen use. For example, in his works, even Emperor Gaozu, the winner is king, and his mind is full of hooliganism. Even Xiang Yu, the loser is a thief, is heroic. Even a terrorist at that time, he would say, "Don't cheat his ambition, his name will be remembered by future generations"; Even a "big bad guy" like Reese, when he was dying, he would describe the family happiness when the father and son were crying, recalling that year, holding a yellow dog and chasing a cunning rabbit. Many "great men" write like "little people".
Related to Sima Qian's indignation, Biography of General Li is also worth reading (interestingly before Biography of Xiongnu and Biography of General Wei). He didn't talk much about the disaster of Li Ling, but compared with Hanshu, he seemed to be a brush. It is difficult for us to guess whether this omission is due to "dare not say" or "can't bear to say". But he said in praise:
It is said that "he is honest and does not give orders; Is he called General Li even though he is not obedient? I have met General Li, who is too modest to say anything. On the day of death, what the world knows or doesn't know is mourning. Is his loyalty to the literati sincere? As the saying goes, "peaches and plums don't say anything, the next step has its own way." "Although this statement is small, it can be said to be big.