Chinese Narratology I: Heaven and Human

As the first volume of a two-volume set on Chinese narratology, this title introduces the cultural fundamentals that nurture Chinese literary works and investigates the structure and time of Chinese narrative.

In the introductory chapter, the author examines the intrinsic association between Chinese writers’ narrative techniques and China’s cultural background by putting forward a Principle of Duixing to facilitate the study of those techniques and three steps to revisit Chinese narrative. Based on Western narrative theories and a close reading of outstanding Chinese literary classics, the volume focuses on structure and time in Chinese narrative. The first part on structure (jiegou) identifies five essential themes to analyze the dual dynamic structure of Chinese narrative. In terms of aspects of time, the author demonstrates how the holistic view of time and space in the Chinese tradition influences the chronological framework of narratives and shapes the outset of a story.

The book is a must-read for scholars and students interested in narrative theory, Chinese culture and literature, and the dialogue between Chinese and Western narratological studies.

Yang Yi (杨义) is a research fellow and doctoral supervisor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and a CASS member. His research fields include the interaction of Chinese literature and culture, Chinese narratology, poetics of Chinese literature, and Chinese cultural thought.