《史記‧朝鮮列傳》考察

How History Book Still Shows Literary Value: Biography of the Joseon in Records of the Historian and Its His Torical Commentary

筆者將《史記‧朝鮮列傳》分析為以篇前序文、「起承轉結」架構的正文、冠以「太史公曰」的贊文組成的作品。敘事結構點出此傳情節的悲劇性，同時與相關論贊的互見，更凸顯出朝鮮與列傳人物的起伏。整體上，此傳表示「一國多民族」的大一統史觀。但就細節而觀，司馬遷「借史事以明義」，易言之，紀事本身就會表達「究天人之際」、「通古今之變」、「成一家之言」。三者分別為：司馬遷追溯朝鮮歷史淵源，以探尋天道與人道之間的交叉點；「起承轉結」架構顯示朝鮮興亡與多人窮達的時勢之變的反映；與〈朝鮮傳〉的贊文相比之中司馬遷對悲劇性的專注以及四字用韻的贊文彷彿讀成銘文。

"The Biography of Joseon（朝鮮列傳） is included in the Records of the Historian（史記）. The Records of the Historian was written by Sima Tan（司馬談） and Sima Qian（司馬遷）, who were father and son relationship, also were historical officials in Han dynasty（漢朝）. Because of his father’s will, Sima Qian started to have a vocation for writing history book like Chun Qiu（春秋）. From a common-sense point of view, history book is not literary work. But the Records of the Historian is a unique history book because its literary value unites it and its historicity. The Biography of Joseon is comparatively easy to approach literary value. Firstly, the Biography of Joseon has a well-organized narrative structure, I call it as ‘Gi（起）-Seung（承）-Jeon（轉）- Gyeol（結）’ four steps. These steps give a tragedy beyond the visible texts. Interestingly, the narrative time and emphasis changed as Sima Qian thought it right. These features disclosed ‘get the flow changes in time past and present’（通古今之變） and the history book became hereby meaningful “literary work”. In the first part of the biography, Joseon’s leader was descended from Yan people（燕國人）. It indicated ‘the great unification’（大一統）. The final part of the biography showed unique ‘historical commentary’（論贊） because it was formed by a poem of four-syllables （四言詩）. And this form looked like Sima Qian mourned for Joseon. The Biography of Joseon was based on historical fact. But it was not the total of these facts. Sima Qian used them as a medium for expression（借史事以明義）. His expression has appealed to ancient and modern people, so we can call it as ‘a masterly view’（一家之言） on history."