Dramatic Modes and Symbolic Motifs in Hong Xingfu s Short Stories Towards a Narratological Analysis Shie, Elliott S.T. * Abstract Scholarship on Hong Xingfu s novel has been revolving around the issues of character, thought, and theme. Based on modern narratology, this paper analyzes the narrative skills and distinguishes four dramatic modes in Hong s novel. The paper first discusses the narrative logic underlying his novel, a story logic that consists in the sequence of equilibrium, disruption, disequilibrium, and the second equilibrium. The second section points out the technique of retrospection in his novel, a technique that creates two kinds of suspense: one leading the reader to wonder what has caused the present state of interest conflict; the other seducing the reader to see what will happen next. Through the narrative logic and techniques discussed above, Hong adds a traditional stage drama into his short story Drama Dissembled, multiplying its narrative levels and giving multiple symbolic meanings to its theme. Finally, this paper investigates how fiction space can be turned into a drama stage where characters proceed and recede at the author s will. First, by having several segmented spaces (stages) in the story, Hong enables his characters recede from one stage and then proceed to another. Secondly, by putting a character into the state of intoxication, Hong forces the character to recede on the stage. Either way, Hong controls the number of characters present on the stage and determines whether or not two characters should have interactions. The entire paper has attempted to suggest the significance of close textual analysis of nativist literature, arguing that modern narratology can serve as a useful tool. Keywords: Hong Xingfu, narratology, dramatization, suspense, staging * Assistant Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Tsing Hua University 1
* Todorov * ** 2
1949 1982 1 1994 2001 2002 2004 biographical criticism 2 3 4 O 5 1 2 1994 274-281 3 282-317 4 2004 5 ~ 2002 22 3
6 7 8 impressionist 9 10 modern narratology 11 Henry James point of view Percy Lubbock Wayne Booth Viktor Shklovsky Boris Tomashevsky Gérard Genette Tzvetan Todorov motif theme symbolic motif theme William Freedman motif symbol 6 ~ 103-138 7 172-173 8 260-170 9 158-165 10 183 11 2006 2002 4
pattern 12 13 14 classical narratology 15 fabula syuzhet Shklovsky 16 Iliad Achilles Agamennon 17 12 William Freedman, The Literary Motif: A Definition and Evaluation, in Essentials of the Theory of Fiction. ed. Michael J. Hoffman and Patrick D. Murphy, 2nd ed (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996), p. 202. 13 203 14 Gérard Genette Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method 15 2006 8-9 16 fabula syuzhet story plot story discourse Theory of Prose storyline plot syuzhet Viktor Shklovsky, Theory of Prose, trans. Benjamin Sher (Normal: Dalkey Archive Press, 1991), p. 170. 17 Gérard Genette, Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method, trans. Jane E. Lewin (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980), p. 36. 5
Todorov equilibrium 18 Todorov Tomashevsky 19 20 221 230 230 235 237-38 fabula 18 Tzvetan Todorov, Introduction to Poetics, trans. Richard Howard (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1981), pp. 50-51. 19 Boris Tomashevsky, Thematics, in Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays, trans. Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965), pp. 72-73. 20 216-243 6
21 Todorov 22 23 moral dilemma Todorov 21 164-204 22 3 297 23 144-169 7
24 syuzhet fabula Tomashevsk delayed expositions 25 Dolezelova-Velingerova information manipulation 26 27 28 29 30 24 20 216 25 19 72-73 26 Milena Dolezelova-Velingerova, "Lu Xun's 'Medicine,'" in Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era, ed. Merle Goldman (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977), p. 223. 27 1987 28 260-278 29 2-98 30 253-282 8
symbolic motif 173 exchange value 167 202 Todorov 9
31 suspense 144 unjust equilibrium 32 140-41 33 31 126-145 32 John Fiske, Television Culture (London: Routledge, 1987), p. 140. 33 146-165 10
34 156 162-63 164 164 34 Wayne Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction, 2nd ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983), pp. 249-256. 11
35 Genette narrative levels embedded 36 Genette Genette Todorov 35 99-127 36 3 159 12
126 Genette metalepses The Purple Rose of Cairo Genette 37 37 17 234-235 13
109 117 infrastructure superstructure 118 116 pastiche 38 114 118 39 38 1992 121 39 114-124 14
40 40 166-184 15
175 41 182 184 Todorov 41 126-145 16
42 1988 narrator within the story 1993 1995 Lubbock 43 42 1992 226 43 Percy Lubbock, The Craft of Fiction (London: J. Cape, 1921), pp. 118-119. 17
universal 18
1987 1988 1994 158-165 1994 282-317 2002 103-138 1994 260-273 2002 2006 2001 1992 223-231 Erving Goffman 1992 1994 274-281 ~ 2002 17-56 2004 19
~ 2002 61-98 2002 143-163 1994 182-197 Booth, Wayne, The Rhetoric of Fiction, 2nd ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983). Dolezelova-Velingerova, Milena, Lu Xun's Medicine, in Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era, ed. Merle Goldman (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977), pp. 221-232. Fiske, John, Television Culture (London: Routledge, 1987). Freedman, William, The Literary Motif: A Definition and Evaluation, in Essentials of the Theory of Fiction, ed. Michael J. Hoffman and Patrick D., 2nd ed. (Murphy. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996), pp. 200-212. Genette, Gérard, Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method, trans. Jane E. Lewin. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980). Lubbock, Percy, The Craft of Fiction (London: J. Cape, 1921). Shklovsky, Viktor, Theory of Prose, trans. Benjamin Sher (Normal: Dalkey Archive Press, 1991). Todorov, Tzvetan, Introduction to Poetics, trans. Richard Howard (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1981). Tomashevsky, Boris, Thematics, in Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays, trans. Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965), pp. 61-98. 20