把传記当作一种艺术,是現代人的概念,而且和自我意识的增长有联带关系。因为一个人只有认识到传記家和他的主人公之間有一种特殊的关系,事实和意見經过传記家的心灵滤过才渗进公众的舆論时,他才能設想传記可能是一种艺术,而不是事实的記录和意見的陈述。因为給讀者看些甚么,要由传記家选擇,而且他处理原始材料时,对任何一个片断的采納或者舍弃都可能是决定性的,不能改动的。他必須在这一个解釋和那一个解釋之間,在这一套 Taking biographies as an art is the concept of the modern people and is linked to the growth of self-awareness. Because one can only imagine that the biography may be one if one only recognizes that there is a special relationship between the biographer and his protagonist, that facts and opinion permeate the public opinion through the psychic filtration of the biographer The art, not the factual record and the statement of opinion. Because of what the reader is looking for, the choice of the biographer, and his handling of the original material, the adoption or abandonment of any one piece may be conclusive and unalterable. He must be between this one explanation and that one explanation