『史記 · 四君子列傳』에 나타난 褒貶 양상 연구 ― 養士 관련 記述을 中心으로

Abstract

The core idea of “Sijunziliezhuan” in Shiji is the provision of sustenance for “Shike” (a hanger-on scholar), and for that reason, the narratives of Sijunzi are placed next to one another. The central arguments of this paper are four-fold. Firstly, in his description of how to treat shike, Simaqian focuses on the sincerity of Sijunzi in treating hangers-on. Mengchangjun is described as showing up his vested interest in the maintenance of Sijunzi: he is portrayed as being often irritated by the demands of hangers-on and backbiting them. Pingyuanjun is depicted as a man who is discriminatory against scholars of lesser fortune or family background, and who cares about the appearance of good deed without caring to discern and nurture talent. On the other hand, Xinlingjun is shown in minute detail to be a man of sincerity who puts great value on scholarly fellowship with hangers-on. Secondly, both “Mengchangjunliezhuan” and “Pingyuanjunliezhuan” praise the great deeds of hangers-on and criticize the unappreciative lords by using the narrative structure of reversal that shows the great performances of those hangers-on who have been poorly treated. Thirdly, Simaqian locates Xinlingjun at the center of story-telling while placing Mengchangjun and Pingyuanjun as passive characters at the receiving end of their stories Lastly, Simaqian uses additional accounts, which is not integral to the main narrative, to praise or criticize Sijunzi. Simaqin’s appraisal of Sijunzi is predicated on the presence of genuine sincerity toward hanger-on scholars. He seems ambivalent about the social reality made up of the Sijunzi of higher social backgrounds and the hanger-on scholars whose enormous effort to make a name for themselves often proves futile. In the end, Simaqin applies a stricter standard of evaluation for the Sijunzi than that allowed for the hangers-on.