袁中道〈李溫陵傳〉的傳主李贄，不管生前或死後，都一直是位備受爭議的人物。揚之者比之為李耳、名士，抑之者則貶為異端、妖孽，一個人可以容納兩種極端不同的評價，除去發言者的時代因素外，也和這個人的生命具備頗受爭議的特性有著密切的關係。作者袁中道是晚明「公安派」的文學健將之一，由於才華和名聲稍遜其兄宏道，所以學界罕見研究他的作品，頂多只涉及到他的「日記」和「遊記」二類。事實上，袁中道的傳記散文頗多，不乏優美的精品，如〈李溫陵傳〉即是。可惜的是，學者大多仍停留在零星地引用這篇文章的部份文字，拿來當作研究的佐證文獻而已。袁中道是李贄的學生，寫這篇文章時，很能兼顧到文獻史實和文學藝術，生動地將晚明這位獨一無二的異人呈現在讀者面前。有鑑於此，本文擬從文學鑑賞的角度來介紹並析論這篇文章，分為底下三個部份：主題探討╱卓異詭異而非異端，章節設計╱前敘後議、人書並寫，修辭特色╱奇妙譬喻、對話示現。

　　　　　Li Zhi, hero of the “Biography of Li Wen-Ling” written by Yuan Zhong-Dao, was a controversial figure during his lifetime or after his death. People have hailed him as Li Erh (founder of Taoism), or a high-minded recluse. To those who disliked him, Li was a non-conformist or a demonic character. To be sure, one must consider the contradictory nature in the critical evaluation of Li, and approach it from historical and biographical grounds. Yuan Zhong-Dao, the author in question here, was one of the outstanding figures of the ‘Gong-An’ School in the late Ming period. His literary reputation was considered inferior to that of his older brother Yuan Hong-Dao, and so people have only researched into the genres of diary and travelogue pertaining to Li’s writings. In fact, many pieces of his biographical accounts, as is with the ‘The Biography of Li Wen-Ling’, are worthy of scholarly discussion. Although critics have cited the Biography of Li only as a secondary history record, Li Zhi, Yuan’s teacher, highly regarded this biography as an important work, combining historiographical accuracy and literary techniques. In Yuan’s biographical world, Li Wen-Ling’s extraordinary personality is presented in a special light. With a view to giving a full appreciation of the work, I would like to approach it from the three following aspects: 1) a discussion of the main themes focusing on the idea of heterodoxy or nonconformity; 2) chapter division dealing with literary art of description, commentary and character sketch, and 3) rhetoric skills expressed in the use of figurative language and dialogues.