司馬桑敦（1918-1981），五○年代重要的記者兼作家，曾出版《山洪暴發的時候》和《野馬傳》兩部小說。兩岸文學史提及司馬桑敦之名相當罕見，又未能將其正確定位，以致長久為人忽視。司馬桑敦文學，須追溯作者本身複雜的歷史淵源和不同的意識型態，尤以抗日戰爭及國共內戰影響甚深，而小說多以此取材。本文欲從《山洪暴發的時候》和《野馬傳》兩部小說著手，論述其中戰爭書寫，冀能對司馬桑敦小說有所考察和觀照。全文共分五節，其一檢閱兩岸文學史如何評價司馬桑敦，以及紀念文集對於作者之重要性；其二探討司馬桑敦意識形態之轉換歷程，從文學青年、牢獄之災、出版文集和小說查禁等多方面著手，期能周全看待司馬一生；其三解析小說文本之戰爭暴力與人性糾葛，司馬小說幾乎篇篇觸及戰爭題材，並由此演繹人性問題之複雜多樣；其四闡述司馬桑敦之人文愛國情懷，並述抵臺後與「自由人文主義」脈流之關係；最後則以「傷痕文學」作結，省思司馬其人其文之價值地位。

Ssu Ma Sang-Tun (1918-1981) was an important reporter and also a writer in 1950s. He has published two novels called "The Moment When the Floods Is Invading" and "The Wild Mare". His name has been rarely mentioned in the literary history across the strait, and has been put in an incorrect position, causing long-term neglection. The literary style of Ssu Ma Sang-Tun should be traced back to his own complicate historical background and different ideology especially effected by the Sino-Japanese War and The Civil War which were also the main themes of his novels. This review focuses on two novels "The Moment When the Floods Is Invading" and "The Wild Mare" and discusses the war-writing in both, hoping to be the reference and preview before reading his novels.This article consists of five sections. The first discusses the historical evaluation on him and the importance of the memorial collection of the author. The second discusses the transforming process of his ideology during his schooldays, imprisonment, novel publication and prohibition, hoping to provide an overview on his whole life. The third part illustrates the violence in wars and the entanglement of humanity in his novels. Almost every novel of Ssu Ma Sang-Tun was connected with war and thereby the complicated situations of humanity. The fourth part discusses his humanism and patriotism which explained the relationship with the concept of "Freedom and Humanism" after he arrived in Taiwan. The last part concludes the ariticle with "Scar Literature", reflecting the true value of Ssu Ma's characters and all of his novels.