A Sociological Research On The Body Narrative And Memory

Literary is one of the platform body performance. Writers present readers the repressed body and the desire of power deeply buried and suppressed in the mainstream ideology through literary narrative and other means. Through body narrative, it let readers know the real survival situation, interprets how the power make a total control on body in the name of state and nation, which finally leads to the distortion of human soul and nature. The relationship between body and state reflects the tension between the micro-narratives and macro-narratives. If we want to deconstruct the existing literary narrative modes in the view of sociology, that how the body depictions are from being rejected and covered intentionally or unintentionally to accepted and displayed is worth paying attention to. Focusing on the body narrative, investigating the relationship between body and state, and making reflection on the relationship between power and body will help to expand the research field of body sociology.In this paper, we have made some thoughts of the relationship between the body narrative and social memory by text analysis of Zhang Xianliang’s works, using the method of case study, from the perspective of body sociology. First of all, the image such as "hungry body", "desirable body", "incomplete body" and so on carving the of social memory of suffering can be found in the texts. Secondly, in this paper, the change of body which is from the tame to the rebelling is not only a deepening process of the suffering memory but also reflects the intention that the writer tries to rise the personal memory to the collective level, causing a collective reflection on the suffering.There are four main findings in this paper:First, body shows a characteristic of phase in Zhang Xianliang novels. The feature is mainly reflected on the relationship between body and spirit and political power. The characteristic reflects a compromise and struggle process in which body is under the powerful political discipline, which is closely related to the composer’s life experience, social background and the reflection on the social memory. Second, the "incomplete body" is not only a metaphor for the change process of the mental state and the survival environment of a special generation but also highlights the tension between the political power and the individual life, which is a carving on social memory by the individual memory and also a deconstruction and subversion of macro-narrative by "personal narrative". Third, in the private narrative body is always full of subjective initiative. The "docile body" and "rebel body" under the oppression of political power aim at showing that how the creator take a body resistance to the mainstream ideology through individualized narrative. The change from the tame to the resisting, it in essence is a trial of fighting for the "positive freedom", in which the body resistance appears to be negative. Fourth, the trail is worthwhile that rising the personal suffering experience to the whole society and nation, making the personal memory become the national and state one, showing the rebelling and resistance of body to the political power, incomplete body, returning to the mother or converting to death can prove the efforts to find the "negative freedom".