A Study Of Family Narrative In Liang Xiaosheng’s Long Novel A Lifelong Journey

Liang Xiaosheng,a famous contemporary writer,was awarded the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2019 for his novel A Lifelong Journey.The narrative of A Lifelong Journey revolves around the Zhou family and focuses on the social and historical changes that took place over fifty years from the 1960s and 1970s to the beginning of the 21st century.Liang Xiaosheng focuses on three types of families: workers’ families,intellectuals’ families and cadres’ families,in which he focuses mainly on workers’ families,while complementing the workers’ families with intellectuals’ families and cadres’ families.In fact,Liang wants to portray the human world in as all-round and multi-faceted a way as possible through the method of class analysis from the perspective of workers’ families,intellectuals’ families and cadres’ families.The main text is divided into four parts,with four chapters on family types,characterization in families,ideological connotations of families,and the art of family narrative.The first chapter analyzes the three types of families in A Lifelong Journey.They include workers’ families,intellectuals’ families and cadres’ families.These three types of families are the basis for the generation of the family narrative in A Lifelong Journey.Chapter 2 introduces the representative characters of the families.Zhou Zhigang,a worker of the "third line",is strong in personality and values honor;Zhou Bingkun,a worker,is simple,simple and enthusiastic;Zhou Rong,a scholar,is free and independent;Feng Huacheng,a poet,is capricious;Jin Yueji,an old cadre,is cautious;and Zhou Bingyi,a new cadre,tends to be innovative.The third chapter analyzes the particularities and universality of the three types of families.At the three levels of family culture,individual pursuit and family sentiment,the particularities of different family types are highlighted,showing Liang Xiaosheng’s ideological significance of attaching importance to family culture,inclining to the culture of good people,expressing family sentiment,and focusing on literary nourishment;Chapter 4focuses on the subtle family narrative arrangement in A Lifelong Journey from the level of narrative art.Liang Xiaosheng innovates the novel’s narrative structure in an umbrella-like radial structure with multiple juxtapositions,and constantly penetrates the secrets of class in a folklorized narrative stance.Instead of adopting a single narrative,he strives to find a balance between the ideal and reality,and uses home imagery throughout the text to make clear that family is a psychological space that provides a sense of spiritual belonging.A Lifelong Journey adopts a family-based narrative model.On the basis of family comparison,it looks into family trivia and shows the magnificent history of China in the past 50 years.The meaning conveyed by the family narrative is not limited to the family itself.The writing of the family can not only reflect the vicissitudes of the country,but also reflect the growth process of individuals within the family,thus showing their unique class concept and spiritual pursuit.