Opening words: Narrative introductions in Chinese vernacular fiction

An important feature of pre-modern Chinese vernacular fiction is the ubiquitous presence of a sequence of opening devices which set various narratives in motion. Early sinologists dismissed them as unsophisticated carry-overs from the oral tradition, or they were dismissed on the grounds that they were naively didactic. However, as the dissertation attempts to show, the picture of narrative introductions in Chinese vernacular fiction is considerably more complex than critics would allow.;This study proceeds from a phenomenological account of the inaugural sequence. Chapter One provides a typology of various narrative introductions and calls attention to the fragmentation of narrative space. A pragmatic function of the opening sequence is that it segments a particular narrative into clearly identifiable spaces with each segment performing a specific function. This feature leads to potential structural and didactic amnesia: while the opening may clearly spell out the moral lesson or the hermeneutic boundaries, the body of the narrative sometimes goes astray. Chapters Four and Five investigate fragmented narrative structures in the fictional works of Li Yu and Wu Jingzi.;Inasmuch as it is impossible to discuss beginnings in vernacular fiction without addressing the beginnings of vernacular fiction, the dissertation delineates in some detail the relationships between oral storytelling, the huaben tradition, and vernacular fiction. Chapter Two explores vestigial orality in the opening sequence, and argues for a fluid conception of orality and literacy. Chapter Three examines Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu's short stories as transitional texts.;A central theme of the study is the gradual evolution from a preoccupation with origin to a concern with originality in Chinese vernacular narratives. In literary huaben fiction the opening sequence confers prestige and authenticity on a narrative, but it can also impoverish it by severely delimiting the hermeneutic boundaries. The expansion of the publishing industry and the concomitant print culture give rise to a narrator who is no longer at ease with tradition. One finds the most concentrated expression of the desire to begin on a fresh note in Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber, the focus of Chapter Six of the dissertation.