Narrative Motivation and Artistic Achievements of the Nanketaishouzhuan--A Comparison with Yanglin, Lufen and Chenchungji
Resource
臺大中文學報, 19, 157-204
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
19
Pages
157-204
Date Issued
2003-12
Date
2003-12
Author(s)
Abstract
Although the Nanketaishouzhuan has long been known by scholars to be one of the finest examples dream story in the chuanqi tradition, there has been no discussion to date of narrative techniques in the work. This paper will use the Russian formalist Boris Tomashevskij's notion of motivation to discuss the narrative form of this work and the meaning created therefrom, particularly compositional motivation in terms of the function of elements of the story, realistic motivation in terms of descriptions of characters and scenery, artistic motivation in terms of innovations in narrative elements, and topical motivation in terms of the expression of the main points of the story. Discussion also uses two zhiguai stories that served as sources for this work, Yanglin recorded in the Youminglu and Lufen in the Yaoyiji, as well as the Tang chuanqi story Zhenchongji to accentuate the improvements made in this work over similar works of fiction. Analysis of these pieces shows that as a narrative work, compositional, realistic, artistic, and topical motivation is very clear in this work and works well together to create an organic and complex story, vivid and realistic characterizations, and creates room for readers to discover meaning at the same time as helping them to accept the authenticity of the story. This work is highly artistic and contains multiple levels of meaning while using a highly creative dream to point to the true nature of human existence. In short, this paper looks at the narrative motivation of the Nanketaishouzhuan to demonstrate its accomplishments in terms of the aesthetics of fictional narrative.
Subjects
傳奇
南柯太守傳
枕中記
盧汾
楊林
敘事動機
Chuanqi
Nanketaishouzhuan
Zhenchongji
Lufen
Yanglin
Narrative motivation
Type
journal article
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