A Study Of Heike Monogatari From The Perspective Of Narratology

Heike Monogatari, which tells at urbulent history that nobles, knights and monks,such different classes fight for political power at the end of the Heian period(794-1192), is a masterpiece in medieval Japan. It spans nearly one hundred years,narrates from the emperor and aristocrats to common people and geishas and coversalmost the whole Japanese archipelago. Heike Monogatari is not only a representativework of military novels, but also a well-deserved masterpiece in the history ofJapanese literature. The most distinguishing feature of Heike Monogatari is process ofthe creation. With the lute players’ playing and singing, the Heike family’s storiesspread widely in the whole Japan and become a popular literary work which reflectspeople’s idea of that time, thus it is also called the national epic. The later literaryworks, dramas, movies, teleplays and comics are based on Heike Monogatari, fromthis we can see its popularity.Heike Monogatari has many versions, mainly in two branches: one that is forpeople to read called reading version, the other that is for people to perform calledlibretto. However, libretto can be divided into two versions according to initiationsvolume: one is ichikataryuu with initiations volume and the other is yasakaryuuwithout initiations volume. Among them the most widely spread and the most popularis the version by kakuiti. So we choose it as our study object, the reasons as follows:first, it is the most widely spread so that it can reflect people’s ideas of that time and itcan represent writing context and acceptive context of the works; second, it is the latestbook with obvious traces of artistic embellishment, for this reason, it has higher artisticachievements and research values from the angle of narratology.Research on Heike Monogatari starts earlier in Japan with a great deal of quantity,and it mainly focus on the following characteristics that study contents have been undergoing a process of refinement, detailed to research of person name, geographyname and speech sounds. Chinese get to know Heike Monogatari from its translationversion, and research achievements has been continued to grow in recent years. Withthe unique national cultural and literary advantages, Chinese researchers focus on thecomparative study and its influences between Chinese literature and Japaneseliterature.This dissertation makes a research on Heike Monogatari based on narratology,and aims to comb the narrative strategies and their narrative functions as the principalpart, to examines the subjective intention of the author’s narrative and the objectiveeffect of the works’ narrative as the core, and to understand the archetypalreplacements of Chinese literature in Heike Monogatari as the purport.In the field of narrative patterns, we mainly interpret the narrative net in HeikeMonogatari and explore the influence to the narrative patterns in Heike Monogatarifrom the traditional Chinese historical biography. On one hand, in Heike Monogatarichronological patterns penetrate the whole book, the longitudinal time is taken as aclue, gives a diachronic description of turbulent history at the end of the Heian period;on the other hand, biographical patterns interlude properly, which takes the transversespace as the clue and gives a synchronic account of the antecedents and consequencesabout the historical figures and events. Chronological patterns and biographicalpatterns combine perfectly, and form a criss-crossing net, finally construct thenarrative context together.As far as the narrative perspective is concerned, we found that Heike Monogatariare used interchangeably with omniscient perspective and limited perspective ofcharacters’ transformation.Sometimes, it uses omniscient perspective to intervenenarration by transgression,changes focalized objects or describes any characters’ innerworldrandomly, which confirm the omniscient and omnipotent narrationfrom theomniscient narrator. However, sometimes it uses limited perspective and focuses onthe minor characters, which deliberately conceals the true identity of the protagonist,resulting in the blank of critical informationand enhances the mystery and attraction of the works. As for the inner part of Heike Monogatari, both the omniscient perspectiveand limited perspective are dynamic and commutative,which create good narrativeflexible mechanisms, and also receive a new artistic tension and aesthetic meaning.As for the perspective of narrative structure, Heike Monogatari is not confined tothe rigid pattern of narrative sequence, but cut and restructure the story time in history,and usespre-narrative, flashback, supplemented narration and separated narrationproperly to cause the narrative mechanisms of time’s perversion and to build amulti-dimensional and hierarchical space and time.As for the narrative style, the usage of Waka, renga, folk song and other styles inthe version by kakuiti is not only the narrative need, but also the need for emotionalexpression of narrators, lute players and even all the readers and listeners. We alsofound that many of the songs in Heike Monogatari were closely associated withBuddhism, Shintoism and other religions, witchcraft and other mysteriousphenomena,which,on one hand, did not reflect the widespread fear of the Japanesepeople in the deities and ghosts, hoping to please the deities and appease the souls bydancing and other performances; on the other hand, it reflects that the Buddhist, Shinto,witchcraftuse the songsto obtain broad public support.In the field of narrative discourse, the transition and shifting of the narrator’sandfigures’discoursescannot only adjust the narrative speed, but also adjust therelationship among the narrator, the characters and the audience. Heike Monogatari isfull of dialogues and confrontations between figures and figures as well as groups andgroups, but the narrator did not give a clear judgment for the conflicts between them,which clearly reflects the feature ofoutstanding hubbub "Polyphony ".Thus, HeikeMonogatari is not dominated by a single Confucian ethics, nor is one-sided emphasison the authority of deities, but gives way to form a dialogue between the Buddha andother ideologies, and, in which cacophonous sceneis formed.Fornarrative techniques and characters, the analogy, contrastand correlationtechniques, each has its merits, but they all serve for the frame work of HeikeMonogatari. As for analogy, it makes the figures’ and groups’ fate echo and benefit each other, not only reduce the words but also enlarge their character traits and destinyfeaturesinvisibly. The application of the contrast, not only highlights the characters’typical personalities, and reveals the author’s praise or census, but also renders thetragic color of this works.Correlation techniques can describe the figures’ inner worlddeeply and largely, and embodies the protagonist’s extraordinary. Round characters arevigour and vivid, while flat characters are prominent in personalities; the twocoordinate with each other and reflect thevarious aspects of the society in historicaltransition.As for the narrative texts and themes, depending on the theory of archetype, wecan find that the Heike Monogatari associates closely with the Chineseliterature,however, meanwhile the author replaces andtransfigures the archetypes inChinese literature in order to make it meet the Japanese orthodox ideas. HeikeMonogatariis apanoramic which describes turbulent history in the socialtransition;thanks to the participation of narrators with different standpoints, differentstratum and different experiences, and they express or strengthen their respectiveideological propositions in varying degrees. All of them make a complicated thematicnetwork for Heike Monogatari together.In conclusion, Heike Monogatari involves many narrative strategies in the field ofnarration, such as narrative patterns, narrative perspectives, narrative structure,narrative style and narrative textsand so on. All of them work on the whole structuretogether, enhance the art tension and render the tragic atmosphere.Secondly, effective narrative effect of the version by kakuiti reflects the author’sunique thinking in organization and layout. But in some ways, deviation also existsbetween the subjective intention of the author’s narrative and the objective effect of theworks’ narrative, thus many multi-faced and anfractuous figures appeared,such asTairano Kiyomori and Taira Shigemori, which all proved that this book wasn’tcompleted by only one person but many different narrators and communicators indifferent positions. Therefore, the work’s narration shows ambiguity and versatility.At last,Heike Monogatari was influenced deeply by Chinese literature, but it is not the only copy or imitation, in fact it transfigures the signified of archetypes inChinese literature in the subtleties, which is the deep reflection of Japanese collectiveunconsciousness: Chinese orthodox ideas were sublated when introduced in Japan,especially the factor of the replacement of the dynasties was renounced. Therefore,Heike Monogatari replaces and transfigures archetypes in Chinese literature such as“The Emperor and the Assassin” and “The Flames of Drama”, gives it a newinterpretation to coordinate with the Japanese thought which is considered as"orthodox view".