司馬遷〈報任安書〉的寫作意旨

The Writing Intention of Sima Qian's A Rely to Ren An

朱孟庭(Chu Meng-Ting)

《人文研究期刊》 13期 (2016/12) Pp. 1-22

摘要

〈報任安書〉是司馬遷寫給友人任安的回信，其內容為歷來研究司馬遷生平、思想及《史記》寫作動機、目的等極為重要的史料，對於此書之意旨，歷來多有爭論。本文試對〈報書〉詳加分析，以明其乃因任安於征和二年（91B.C）九月，受戾太子事件牽連而論及死罪時，於獄中向司馬遷所寫的一封求援信。〈報書〉寫於征和二年十一月，回信藉不能「推賢進士」暗指不能救援之意，即說明自己因李陵之禍受宮刑，已身殘處穢，故無力救援；欲完成《史記》，舒憤立名，故不能救援，盼任安能有所體諒，並藉此說明《史記》初稿已成，及撰作《史記》的核心目的。綜合〈太史公自序〉、〈伯夷列傳〉所云，可知《史記》創作的動機與目的有四，即：完成父命、舒憤雪恥、立名揚先，並效孔子作《春秋》，以此「究天人之際，通古今之變，成一家之言」。

關鍵字

史記 ； 司馬遷 ； 報任安書 ； 任少卿

並列摘要

A Reply for Ren An is the reply made by Sima Qian to his friend Ren An. The content has been regarded as an important historical material to study Sima Qian's life, thought, and his writing motivation and purpose for his renowned Historical Record. On the intention of this reply, there have been a lot of controversies. This paper tries to make a detailed analysis of this replay to define it was actually a letter to call for help when Ren An was in prison at the risk of death sentence due to the involvement in the prince's issue in 91BC. The reply was written in November, 91BC, the reply alluded to the meaning of the incapability for rescue by the incapability of recommending the virtuous, indicating he was disabled by castration due to the disaster caused by Li Ling, so he planned to complete the Historical Record to relieve his anger and earn reputation, hoping Ren An could understand his situation. Moreover, he availed this opportunity to show the draft of his great book has already been completed as well as the core purpose of writing the Historical Records. Concluding the description of Duke Taishi Preface, Boyi Biography, we can see he has four motivations and purposes for the creation of the Historical Records, namely, completed his father's will, relieved the anger, earned reputation, learn from Confucius' writing of Spring and Autumn, so as to learned from the past, predicted the future and became an independent school.

並列關鍵字

Historical Record ； Sima Qian ； An Reply for Ren An ； Ren Shaoqing