史學視野下的集部「私傳」書寫：試論歐陽修〈桑懌傳〉的文史意義

Reading Biographical Writings from a Historical Perspective: On the Literary and Historical Significance of Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修’s “Biography of Sang Yi”

正如章學誠所說：「史學廢而文集入傳記，若唐宋以還，韓、柳誌銘，歐曾序述，皆是也。」史書的「傳記」，如何沾概變化為集部相關的各種文類，是了解唐宋散文發展的一項重要課題，也是探討中國文史敘事傳統的一處關鍵環節。本文即以歐陽修〈桑懌傳〉為主，試圖對這一命題，提出若干觀察及詮釋。全文有幾個論述的重點。一是利用西方敘事學以時間、行動為主的概念，分析〈桑懌傳〉的書寫內容、方法，及其可能取法傳統與人物傳記相關的作品之處；其次，則是結合宋代史事與歐陽修的文史創作觀念，說明本文有別於傳統，刻意迴避揭露人物完整生平的敘事特質，及其在文、史上的創作意義。最後，則是在上述分析的基礎上，以「文史互見」的角度，來說明歐陽修藉由本文所展現、跨越文史的書寫特質，作為思考文史互動與宋代散文發展關係的一項起點。

As the Qing historian Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠 once remarked: “The decline of historiography marks the beginning of literary biography. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, this trend is evident in the funerary inscriptions 誌銘 of Han Yu 韓愈 and Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元, as well as the prefaces and narratives 序述 of Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 and Zeng Gong 曾鞏.” The process through which the biographies found in historical works were transformed into a literary genre is vital for understanding the development of prose in the Tang and Song dynasties. This change also serves as a pivotal point for examining how the Chinese narrative tradition was expressed in both literary and historical writings. Through an analysis of Ouyang Xiu’s “Biography of Sang Yi〈桑懌傳〉,” this article proposes several new observations and interpretations regarding the issue of “paratextuality” between historical and literary works. The argument advanced in this article consists of three parts. First, employing the framework of Western narratology, the article interrogates the content and narrative modes found in the “Biography of Sang Yi,” as well as the ways in which Ouyang modeled traditional biographical writing. Second, this article sheds light on the narratological device Ouyang Xui employed in “The Biography of Sang Yi,” which deliberately avoided the traditional practice of portraying the protagonist’s whole life, by examining Ouyang’s innovations against the historical context of the Song Dynasty. Finally, building upon the above analysis, the article demonstrates the paratextual quality of Ouyang Xiu’s biographical writings. It argues that his “Biography of Sang Yi” can be viewed as a starting point for contemplating both the paratextual relationship between official and private biographies as well as the rhetorical strategies that inform their composition.