Narration:Time And Space-A Study On The Phenomenon Of "The Narrative Of Three Unities" In Modern Narration

"Three Unities"as the aesthetic theories and concepts is mainly a drama theory connected to the stage,although its development,to a certain degree,is connected to epics of Greece and Rome in the long history.After the developments of dramas in ancient Greece,Rome,and the Renaissance,up to the Classical period of France,"Three Unities"started to be dominant drama aesthetic principle,due to which the metaphysical theory of"Three Unities"began to exert important influence on the practice of the dramatic form in the following two hundred years.Because of the "strict standardization" of"Three Unities",artistic practices of later generations were so mostly criticized that people kept criticizing"Three Unities",considering it an obstacle to the development of drama.It was rarely noticed that in the past historical time and space,"Three Unities" was actually an aesthetic principle derived from drama practices,meanwhile,it also used to be a theoretical force that pushed forward the advancement of the art of drama."Three Unities"has experienced great social and historical changes since its budding to the 17 th century in France.In different periods,"Three Unities"has been facing specific contexts and vastly different challenges.In the entire European history,the evolution of the "Three Unities" has never been "a monolithic whole".Therefore,it is obviously inappropriate to criticize or negate it indiscriminately and ambiguously.Whatever a theory,there has been a gradually changing process from its sprouting to occurrence,and from occurrence to growth.So is " Three Unities ".From the perspective of Europe alone,the appearance of "Three Unities"and the shaping of its conception went through two periods:The first period lasted from ancient Greece to the Renaissance,during which "Three Unities"was in a blurred state in terms of both theory and practice;The second period was from the revival of"Three Unities"in French Classicism to the historical criticism in the 19 th century,with Marx and Engels as the representatives.As a dramatic theory originating from Aristotle’s Poetics,the "Three Unities" in drama practice was universally recognized in Italy during the Renaissance and the Classical Period in France in the 17 th century.The dramatists and theorists at that time measured the successes of drama by the standard of inner-consistency in terms of conformity to time,place and plot(action).If "Three Unities" is only found in classical drama,it is not beyond people’s expectation.However,when people frequently encounter with "narration of three unities" in modern dramas,it is worth profound reflection.Meanwhile,in the hundreds of years of evolution of "Three Unities",its aesthetic value would often be simply considered "practical".After European Romanticism,the constant criticism to "Three Unities" has made it difficult for people to further explore the richness of the theory of "Three Unities".In particular,nowadays,people seem to have no more interests in discussing the issue of "Three Unities"with overspread films and TV dramas.Searching the researches on"Three Unities" in China,there have been few commentators in recent years,not to mention people who are interested."Old objects" are out of fashion,and no longer look high-end,elegant,and classy.It seems quite natural that people walk away from it.However,people need to think about why Three Unities is mostly criticized and reproached from an aesthetic perspective,while as a way of dramatic or artistic narration,it has inexhaustible practical strength.In particular,we should pull away our vision from the ancient problem of"Three Unities"of Classicism.From the perspective of generalized drama(namely,from the perspective of the "new drama form" of modern dramas,films and TV plays),especially today,when the influence of traditional drama wanes,and movies and TV plays have become the mainstream cultural products of society,the "three Unities" is combined with the characteristics of social communication and the phenomenon of "Three Unities"is reassessed.In this way,we may obtain a still "fresh and living" theory with possibly wider expansion and application.The rules of"Three Unities"are essentially about literary narration,and story is the subject and basic component of all narrative art forms.If we unfold stories,in the transition of narrative rhythm and the promotion of story plots,"Three Unities" is "universal" in effect.This is because all stories are in time sequence which is the only main axis."Three Unities" is not only the basic unit of literary time but also the time axis of stories."Three Unities"at different periods represents different viewpoints of narration and time-space viewpoints,from the stress of plot during the ancient Greek period to the emphasis of figure during the Renaissance,in which"Three Unities"was mainly a dramatic concept developed from stage technology.However,in the course of the Classicism period in France,this dramatic viewpoint started to be a guiding position,exerting important influence on the creation practice of the art of drama and forming mutual consolidation of viewpoints and technology.This trend was revealed in Marx’s historical materialism.People’s doubt of Three Unities stands for the awakening of humanity in art.It is noteworthy that as a practical theory of the art of drama,"Three Unities"still bears practical value in contemporary drama,TV and films or other narrative art forms.