On The Narrative Art Of Yu Dafu's Novel

Yu Dafu stepped onto the stage of modern literature as a novelist.From the publication of his first collection of vernacular short stories Degradation in 1921 to the publication of his last work Running Away in 1935,Yu Dafu created more than 40 excellent short stories in more than ten years.In terms of the number of creations,Yu Dafu was not a prolific writer,but his unique artistic attainments had become a new force in the early development of the new literature movement.He not only created the image of "Unnecessary Persons" in modern Chinese short stories and reflected the depression of young people during the May 4th movement,but also created a new narrative mode of novels.The narrative art in Yu Dafu’s novels was undoubtedly unique.He has a spirit of "bold self exposure",but it is this "uniqueness" that makes Yu Dafu’s novels controversial from the beginning of its birth,leading to the academic definition of his novel style has always been ambiguous.In the development history of Chinese novels,whether Historical Biographies and myths as the origin of novels,or later legends of the Tang Dynasty,vernacular novels of the Song Dynasty and chapter novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,are mainly narrative stories.The story has a beginning,development,climax and end.Through one wave and three twists of the plot to attract readers’ interest in reading,a stylized narrative method is formed,and the fluctuation of the plot constitutes the main body of the novel,become the driving force of narrative development.In modern times,with the popularity of newspapers and magazines and the introduction of western novels and literary theories,novels gradually changed shape.The change of narrative mode of modern novels germinated in the late Qing Dynasty,but new novelists such as Liang Qichao and Lin Shu were limited by the old ideas and could only "imitate the cat and draw the tiger" from the novel techniques.The May 4th novelists took over the baton of changing the narrative mode,and Yu Dafu was one of them.They regard the form and thought as an organic whole,carry out all-round changes,and jointly complete this transformation in the history of Chinese novels.The traditional novel construction method has been subverted,and the plot is no longer the only driving force to promote the development of events.Therefore,even if Yu Dafu’s novels have been evaluated as dilution of plot and simple story framework,it still does not hinder them from becoming excellent works in the history of modern Chinese novels and their role in the transformation of novel narrative mode.Whether classical novels or modern novels,narration is the constant background of the novel.Therefore,as the foundation of the novel,it is retained in Yu Dafu’s novels,and the different narrative methods of the novel show Yu Dafu’s unique personality in novel creation.The eloquent language in the novel,the protagonist’s deep introspection spirit and the hazy loneliness all imply strong emotions.The use of these various narrative methods gradually obscures the narrative background of the novel.Although narration is still the constant pursuit of Yu Dafu’s novels,at the same time,"emotion" has also become an important means of expression in his novels.For a long time,due to the existence of "emotion",in the study of Yu Dafu’s novels,the narrative characteristics of the novels are sometimes blurred,and the novel elements such as characters and structure are even covered as symbolic things."Lyrical novel","Poetic novel" and "Prosaic novel" once became the key words to summarize the artistic characteristics of his novels.Therefore,to study the narrative art of Yu Dafu’s novels,we must first return to the essential function of the novel-narration.Yu Dafu is not only an excellent novelist,but also created a large number of literary theories.He has his own unique views on novel creation.In the process of exploring the narrative art of Yu Dafu’s novels,with reference to Yu Dafu’s novel theory,focusing on "an incident" proposed in Novel Theory,this paper reinterprets the narrative art according to the specific contents of Yu Dafu’s novels.The introduction briefly reviews the research on Yu Dafu’s novels in the past century,and puts forward the topic of the paper on this basis.To study the narrative of novels,we should first distinguish novels from other stylistic forms in essence,so as to make novels become novels first.The first chapter discusses what to write in the novel,responds to the problems of lyric novels,and looks for the hidden narrative function in the novel.Because novels have commonalities on basic issues,the first section discusses what novels are and what novels write from the perspective of macro and linear development of novels,so as to analyze the basic functions of novels.Yu Dafu has his own opinions on what to write in the novel,so the second section will return to Yu Dafu’s specific novel theory,specifically elaborate the connotation of "an incident" put forward by Yu Dafu,and answer what Yu Dafu’s novels write.The third section analyzes Yu Dafu’s novel theory and novel works,trying to answer what kind of narrative form Yu Dafu’s novels have established.The second chapter of the paper is to respond to the early critics’ modern lyric characteristics to avoid the problem of Yu Dafu’s novel structure,explore how to write "an incident",and answer what logic Yu Dafu uses to layout "an incident" in his novel.The first section answers that Yu Dafu’s novels do not have plots,but construct plots and attract readers by constantly denying readers’ reading expectations.The second section expounds that Yu Dafu uses a new structure-emotional structure to promote narration in his novels.The third section answers Yu Dafu’s treatment of time and space in the narrative process.The third chapter continues to answer how to write "an incident" through the study of Yu Dafu’s novel language.In Yu Dafu’s novels,language is not only a narrative method,but also connects lyricism and narration,making lyricism a means of narration,and the two are reconciled in the novel.The three sections of this chapter show Yu Dafu’s language skills from three aspects: visual beauty,auditory beauty and artistic conception beauty,and further promote the occurrence of "an incident".Yu Dafu always grasped the narrative essence of the novel in his novel creation,applied the novel theory to his creative practice,changed the form,and formed a new novel narrative mode.Whether Yu Dafu’s "literary works are the Autobiography of the writer" or "an incident" in the novel is internally unified with its literary practice,which implies the author’s experience,but the characters are different from the author himself.On the basis of describing incidents,they bring touching narrative effects.