The Textual Borrowing And Influence Of Chinese Writers On The Legend Of "The White Snake"

As one of the most well-known classic folk tales in China, Madam White Snake is also an important cultural text based on the order-chaos-archetype, which carries the basic understanding and conception of our lives and the world. So it can inspire the sympathetic understanding in different cultures. During the narrative process, the writers use the inter-textual relationship between Madam White Snake as folk tales and Madam White Snake as literature in order to create the literary intensity. That means the simple using of the ancient legend is far from enough, the writers must use it in a creative, inimitable and literary way. By taking the ancient legend as metaphorical text, parallel text and compared text of the modern works, the two sides manage to consult and construct mutually. So, text-use makes a breakthrough at the origin-influence type when we study at the relationship between folk literature and written literature, and it affirms the possibility of mutual communication, exchange and dialogue. Meanwhile, it proves that folk literature can play a constructive role in the written literature, both in the narration and in the generation of meaning. With the help of the ancient legend, the modern works gains much stronger artistic and spirit tension, especially it can express the writers’ humanistic concern, spiritual height and monologue of soul in a more artistic way. Meanwhile, the modern works creates a unique literary space in which the ancient legend can accommodate itself to modern life. In conclusion, by finding out the common nature of classics shared by oral literature and written literature, text-use helps us get a deeper insight and inquiry into our life and world, as well as to make improvement.