The narrative research of San Yan Er Pai"" focusing on the episodes happening within the space of boats""
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Yang, Li-Chung Ou
Abstract
The Boat building has a significant influence on human development. With boats, humans are able to travel across different fields and no longer limited by water. In Chinese literature, besides being as a vehicle, boats also contain different imagery and symbols. In classical poems, boats show symbolical meanings of hope, dream, loneliness, freedom, and love. In novels, boats often serve as scenes and involve the change of space. Moreover, human activities on the boat, an enclosed space on the water, help to push stories forward with unexpected twists. “San Yan Er Pai” is an influential collection of vernacular short stories reflecting the public life and social structure in Ming Dynasty. Canals largely established at that time formed an essential transportation for merchants, officials, scholars, and common people. Many scholars have studied “San Yan Er Pai” from different aspects including the story lines, characterization, and cultural affect on the society. While less attention is paid on the relation between the story and boats in the work. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to explore the different meanings of boats in “San Yan Er Pai”. This paper will focus on various stories about boat and interpret their influence and significance in the text. Stories related to boat can be divided into three types, and they are respectively about hijacking, romance, and infidelity. Based on different scenarios, the stories are unfolded in the areas of crime, love, and betrayal. To explain the multiple meanings of boats in “San Yan Er Pai”, this paper aims to prove different ideas through the research of texts, cultural background, social order, and human relationships.
Subjects
“San Yan Er Pai”
“boat”
“water”
“order”
“hijacking”
SDGs
Type
thesis