A Comparison of Fictional and Historical Narratives: Based on the Stories of Wu Bao’an and Xie Xiao’eh
Resource
臺大中文學報, 24, 183-223
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
24
Pages
183-223
Date Issued
2006-06
Date
2006-06
Author(s)
Abstract
Historical writings have been known to be an important source for the composition of Tang dynasty fiction; nonetheless, fictional works might as well end up influencing the way history was written. This paper discusses the reasons why Song Qi (宋祁), when compiling his New History of the Tang (新唐書), selected two famous works of Tang fiction, the "Wu Bao'an" (吳保安) in Niu Su's (牛肅) Jiwen (紀聞), and Li Gongzuo's (李公佐) "Xie Xiao'eh zhuan" (謝小娥傳). neither of which was intended by its author to simply complement the existing historical works. Taking a cue from New Historicism, which sees history as a type of narrative discourse, in this paper we begin with the contention that the inclusion of fiction in a historical work naturally suggests an alternate narrative strategy. We use the narrative theory to analyze the differences between the fictional and the historical narrative of the two stories under concern. Our analysis shows that Song Qi's strategy of selecting a wide range of sources in writing history and his attention to the customs and lifestyles of ordinary people, coupled with the fact that the characters in these two works of fiction were compatible with his goals of writing historical biographies, led him to include the two stories in the "Zhongyi zhuan" ( 忠義傳 ) and "Lienii zhuan" ( 列女傳 ) sections of his New History of the Tang. In this way, Song created a classic example in which we find the influence of fiction on history-ical writing. In terms of narrative form and narrative effects, we see that even though Song Qi used fictional works as source materials in his histori-cal writing, he continued to follow the principles outlined in the chapter on narration in Liu Zhiji 's (劉知幾) Shu Tong (史通), which is to say he used simple brushstrokes to detail the events of the story. This approach stands in sharp contrast to that of fictional narrative, where emphasis is placed on the emotional state of the characters as they move through the events of the story. The latter approach allows for the creation of richer characters, increases the capacity of the story to move its readers, and opens up wider interpretive vistas.
Subjects
吳保安
謝小娥
唐代小說
新唐書
敘事
Wu Bao-an
Xie Xiao-eh
Tang fiction
New history of the Tang
Narrative
Type
journal article
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