Week 7 - Final Thoughts

 

N 17m. Sima Qian’s remarks on the first few chapters (17, 38, 52) of the basics annals differ in character with his remarks in later chapters, especially those of the biographies. The earlier remarks tend to focus on his sources (17, 38,52), while the later remarks often contain moral judgements on specific personages. While consideration of sources is certainly important, I did not read these sections attentively enough at the beginning of the semester to notice an interesting sentence in his remarks on the first chapter. In the context of discussing how he compared information gathered in his travels to extant sources such as the Book of Documents, he notes that “If one were not a person who is fond of pursuing and pondering deeply so as to conceive the ideas in his mind one certainly would have a hard time to tell [this history] to those who have only a superficial view and are ill-informed” (17b). In this sentence, “this history” most likely refers to that period of high antiquity which is not adequately recorded, but perhaps it can extend to the exercise of relating and receiving history as a whole.* Here Sima uses three verbs integral to his process: pursue, ponder, and conceive. His pursuit and pondering surely refers to his deep investigation into his sources and extensive travels to ascertain what remains archeologically and in oral traditions (17m), but the meaning of the conception of the ideas is less clear. To conceive of ideas in the mind seems to suggest a role of imagination that is necessary for the historian. Modern readers may immediately recoil from the notion of integrating imagination into an historical account since we tend to conflate imagination with fictionalization. But if the imagination proceeds from a deep “pondering” into the whole personality of a character or an understanding of the overall meaning of an event, and if it is expressed in a dramatized conversation or an artful arrangement of the facts of a figure’s life, perhaps then the imaginative addition is best conceived of as an amplification, not a falsification. But whatever these terms precisely mean to the author, the Shi Ji is a work of such quality that those readers who are ill-informed and have a superficial understanding (such as me!) benefit greatly from the fact that Sima was a man who pursued, pondered deeply, and conceived of these stories in his mind.

*Or perhaps not. But at least, it applies to his process for writing about and transmitting this early period.

Reading the Shi Ji was a highly enjoyable experience due to its humanization of history, high literary quality, and use of multiple perspectives. I find it difficult to choose just one of these attributes that I would consider the high point of my experience of Sima, but if I must, I think I was touched most deeply by the way in which the personal and historical meet. Sima’s personal history is expressed in his Letter to Ren An, which was perhaps the reading that moved me most. I am grateful that our readings included this very human picture of the author, who, despite his self-deprecating language following his castration (Q 228t), showed inspiring courage* in defending a man who was not a close friend (230b) and in submitting to humiliating punishment to carry out his father’s work and produce such a magnificent work. But we also see the meeting of the personal and historical in those parts of the Shi Ji that are not autobiographical. Although he admits of supernatural signs such as dragons, natural disasters, and portents, and although he captures the bird’s-eye view of broader arcs of dynastic history, the work focuses mostly on the unique personages who shaped history. If the movement of history rests with human beings, he rightly places great emphasis on how the virtue or lack thereof in rulers and ministers shapes society. His project, then, is at least in part didactic in terms of ethics. Yet to his credit, he does not over-simplify for the reader: he recognizes the complexity of these historic persons by presenting multiple accounts. This is, in my opinion, a mark of his genius. He can somehow present accounts which are seemingly contradictory (especially in terms of tone), yet the reader still emerges with an overall, “objective” sense of the character’s moral quality. In summary, what I appreciate about Sima Qian above all else is his sensitivity to human nature.

The only part of the experience I can identify as a low point stems from my own impatience. With any author it takes time and patient attendance to learn how to hear his or her voice, but I found Sima’s voice to be highly elusive (outside of his direct remarks). It took a long time – the entire work, in truth – until I felt that I had some sense of his voice and project, and even now I still struggle to articulate the precise character of the same. But beautiful things are difficult, and I would like to thank you, Mr. Druecker and classmates, for helping me struggle through this great text.

* As a tangential point, this is why it is difficult for me to believe that his work would be unduly influenced by the censors of his time. Someone who can show courage in the way that he did would not likely cower.

- Lauren Delucchi