On The Spatial Narrative In Yan Lianke's Novels

Yan Lianke focused on the living conditions of grassroots in his early novels,and then gradually shifted his attention to the rapidly expanded desires of people when the Chinese society was changing sharply.He has a unique and thorough understanding about human's existence and their pursuit of spiritual world reflected in his writings.In the face of the complex modern society,the traditional mode of novel narrative is hard to fully express the reality.Yan breaks through the traditional realism through the exploration of spatial narrative in his novels,which also implies his strong critical spirit.Combining with the theories of traditional Chinese narratology and western narratology,this paper studies Yan Lianke's novels from the perspective of spatial narrative,including its main types,the author's exploration on this artistic skill and its significance to the works.The introduction describes the basis of analyzing Yan Lianke's novels from spatial narrative,combs the relevant research results of this topic,and clarifies the paper's research direction and significance.The first chapter analyzes the three types of space in Yan's novels,including the rural space with typical Chinese countryside features,the urban space with opposite elements,and the imaginary space composed of dreams and the underworld.These three types also lay the basis of his writing in spatial narrative.The author seeks and flees the rural and the urban space,and looks for the true sprits in the imaginary space.The next chapter discusses Yan's unique writing techniques of spatial narrative in his novels.His borrowing and changes of the traditional “Chinese Boxes” have produced the creative expression effect.Meanwhile,the vagueness of time in the novel,as well as the concept of reincarnation,weaken the temporal logic of narration and achieve the purpose of space focus.The use of mixed writing styles and juxtaposition breaks the single narrative flow,and the reconstruction of fragments enhances the dialogism of space.In the third chapter,the significance of spatial narrative in Yan's novels is further explained.His sense of space in writing comes from Chinese Literature,and is influenced by Western and Latin American Literature.It plays a significant role in the formation of conflicts and the expansion of tensions in the novels.At the same time,Yan criticizes not only the people's expanding desire and spiritual degradation in the city,but also the seclusion and ignorance of people in the countryside,highlighting their besieged mental states,as well as expressing his concern about modernization.The conclusion affirms that it is conducive to seeing Yan Lianke's constant pursuit of the truth and restoration of the world complexity in his masterpieces from the perspective of spatial narrative.His multiple exploration of this artistic writing skill contains his profound social criticism and deep concern for humanity.