约翰·古斯塔夫·德罗伊森是德国现代史学理论发展史上承前启后的关键人物，他继承和发展了德国启蒙时代以来的历史表现理论，晚年更是通过调整《历史知识理论》 及《历史知识理论纲要》的结构，使“体裁论”独立成章。随着当代叙事主义史学理论的兴起，德罗伊森的“体裁论”及其相关的表现理论越发引起学界重视。尽管德罗伊森在后世遭到一些批评，但他的历史表现理论扩充了历史表现的范围，突出了历史研究与现实的关联，这些正是德罗伊森为18—19世纪德国历史表现理论的现代转型做出的独特贡献。

As a key figure in the history of modern German historiographical theories, J. G. Droysen inherited and developed theories of historical representation since the Age of Enlightenment, and in his later years even made “Topik” a separate part by modifying the structure of Historik and Grundriss der Historik . With the rise of contemporary narrativist theories of historiography, Droysen’s “Topik” and its related theory of representation have attracted more and more attention from the academic circles. Despite some criticisms in later times, Droysen’s theory of historical representation expands the scope of historical representation and highlights the relevance of historical research to reality, which constitutes Droysen’s unique contribution to the modern transformation of German theories of historical representation in the 18^th and19^th centuries.