Please wait a minute...
Frontiers of Literary Studies in China

ISSN 1673-7318

ISSN 1673-7423(Online)

CN 11-5745/I

Postal Subscription Code 80-982

Front Liter Stud Chin    2009, Vol. 3 Issue (2) : 157-172    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11702-009-0007-8
research-article
The starting point of Chinese narrative literature: With reference to the art of narration in the Zuozhuan
TONG Qingbing()
Research Center for Literary Theory, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
 Download: PDF(294 KB)   HTML
 Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks
Abstract

The Zuozhuan 左传 (Zuo Qiuming’s Commentary on The Spring and Autumn Annals) marks the beginning of ancient Chinese narrative literature that involves such factors as plot (what to say), transition (how to say) and view-angle (who says). In fact, this “story plotting” can be traced back to the Zuozhuan in which historical facts are arranged into plots by revealing the cause-effect relationship between them. Such a characteristic tendency is due to the impact from the dao 道 (tao) in either Confucianism or Taoism. For it is expected to expose the developmental process of events in terms of its historical background and plausible causality. That is why the dao of causality and reasonability thematically threads through the process of the entire plot. Moreover, ancient Chinese narrative literature is affected by the sense of time sequence as part of agricultural civilization, and therefore features chronological story-telling. Noticeably in the Zuozhuan, the structure of narration is reflected in the chronological order of specific year, season, month and date. This symbolizes the approach to the minor in view of the great peculiar of Chinese culture. The leading narrator in the Zuozhuan is the official historian whose standpoint is swinging between “the real” and “the fictional”, “the outspoken” and “the suggestive.”

Keywords the Zuozhuan      narrative factors      cause-effect      chronological transition      historian’s view-angle     
Corresponding Author(s): TONG Qingbing,Email:tongqb@263.net   
Issue Date: 05 June 2009
 Cite this article:   
TONG Qingbing. The starting point of Chinese narrative literature: With reference to the art of narration in the Zuozhuan[J]. Front Liter Stud Chin, 2009, 3(2): 157-172.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/flsc/EN/10.1007/s11702-009-0007-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/flsc/EN/Y2009/V3/I2/157
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed