| Abstract |
Biographical writing is not only a literary genre but also an approach to literary criticism. The works of an author can be examined along with the author’s literary life in certain historical and cultural context. The Personality and Style of Sima Qian (1948) by Li, Zhang-zhi (1910-1978) is one best example of biographical writing and literary criticism. This book presents the personality and style of Sima Qian, the reinforcement of each other, and consequently showcases how Shih Chi becomes literary embodiment of the historian’s thoughts and feelings. In this biographical writing, Li, Zhang-zhi makes efforts to render Sima Qian as a lyric poet. In Li’s romantic portrait of the historian as a lyric poet, Shi Chi can be seen as a literary conversion of Sima Qian’s sensibility, which takes center stage in the process of literary creation. In this way, Li celebrates Sima Qian as a representative romantic hero in his literary criticism and in the greater social modern context after the May Fourth Movement, the Enlighten Movement in China, and the new Renaissance to come. |
