Research on Narrative in Ancient Chinese Fiction

Author: Wang Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: This book is a project supported by the National Social Science Fund of China and the Shandong University School of Literature and Aesthetics, a key research base of the Ministry of Education's Humanities and Social Sciences. Narrative is one of the earliest and most fundamental methods of writing, used in the application of language, historical records, and especially in the creation of fiction, which relies on it to tell stories. China has a long tradition of valuing history, and historical narrative literature has developed particularly well. The novel, which evolved from historical narrative literature into an independent literary form, is also rich and glorious. The feature of this book is that its research covers multiple eras, types, and classic works. Within the same category, it analyzes and discusses them in chronological order, thereby moving from synchronic research to diachronic research, giving it the nature and significance of "history." The analysis and discussion of the four types of "narrators" illustrate this point: Tang Dynasty legends broke through the "historian-style" narrative model, and in some novels, the narrator also became the subject of narration. Especially in works where the first-person pronoun "I" narrates "my own" affairs, the author and the narrator are no longer the same entity, which is a prominent manifestation of the Tang Dynasty's "intention to write fiction." The evolution of vernacular fiction is clearly visible. This book uses narrative theory to comprehensively analyze, explore, summarize, and synthesize the characteristics of ancient Chinese fiction in terms of narrative. It combines scientificity, theoretical depth, and academic rigor, making it a valuable reference for relevant professionals.