批判性閱讀與辨思：司馬遷與「項羽之死」

Critical Reading and Thinking: Sih-Ma Chian and ＂Hsiang Yu's Death＂

This article, initiated due to the current disputes over the place of death of Hsiang Yu who was the Overlord in the Chu-Han period (206-202 B.C.), makes a critical review and analysis of the narrative text of ＂Hsiang Yu's Death＂ in Sih-Ma Chian's Records of the Historian from the perspectives of historical geography, logics, rhetoric, historical research, literary criticism, folk art and drama, etc., and comes to a number of conclusions different from the related traditional and mainstream points of view. For example, ＂Farewell to My Concubine＂ and ＂The Riverside Dialogue＂ in Records of the Historian are not the true occurrence of history but presumably oral stories or legends; ＂Hsiang Yu refuses to cross the Yangtze River＂, which later generations indulge in talking about, is almost certainly the artistic creation of Sih-Ma Chian; and there are actually two different personas of Hsiang Yu written in his biography, one is the real person based on historical materials, the other is the artistic image by the author, and more. This article contends that in Records of the Historian Sih-Ma Chian does not want to merely meet the requirements of truthfully recording historical facts, nor to take the success or failure of characters as the only standard of judgment and provide ruling reference for the ruling monarch as the highest pursuit. He persistently explores the value and significance of life and the multi-faceted nature of human being through presenting the various lives and destinies of the people in their biographies. A thinker and questioner in nature, he also tries to find out where the borderline lies between the human efforts and the Will of Heaven, and what the regular patterns of social and historical changes over time are. Therefore, historical records and literary writing blend without separation in his book, with ＂Hsiang Yu's Death＂ being such a good example. This article neither abides by the normal pattern of academic papers, nor sticks to norms of the historiography or literary criticism. In essence, it aims at demonstrating and promoting the critical reading and thinking, by using questions as guidance integrating the narrative of different subjects throughout, in order to provide the reader with entertaining inspirations in mode of thinking as well as research methodology.