A Study Of The Narrative Of Liu Zhenyun’s Hometown Series

Literature is a search for a spiritual homeland,and for Liu Zhenyun,his hometown is the emotional support for his creative process.Since his debut in the literary world,Liu Zhenyun’s emotional triggers have been rooted in his hometown of Yanjin,and his stories have been gradually enriched as the genre has changed.The Hometown series consists of three full-length novels,Hometown Noodles and Flowers,Hometown Getting Along,and Hometown Yellow Flowers Under the Sky.These three novels are not only based on the same theme and subject matter,but are also directly named after "hometown",which is why they are called the "Hometown series" by academics.The novels in the Hometown series combine strong regional characteristics,unique cultural content and rich artistic expression,and vividly and elegantly record the history of suffering in Yanjin.Liu Zhenyun’s use of multiple narrative layers,ironic narrative discourse and the reconstruction of time and history in the Hometown series has resulted in a unique narrative theme,narrative character and narrative structure,and the above narrative uniqueness has become an important component of the distinctive identity of the Hometown series.This essay consists of five main parts: introduction,narrative theme,narrative features,narrative structure and conclusion.The introduction is divided into two parts,namely the definition of core concepts and the current status of Liu Zhenyun’s hometown novel series.The first chapter focuses on the narrative themes of the Hometown series of novels.The first chapter focuses on the narrative themes of the novels in the Hometown series,which are mainly reflected in the care of the underclass characters,the criticism of power,and the reflection on the social environment.The second chapter discusses the narrative characteristics of the novels in the Hometown series.The main features are the fluidity of the narrative perspective;the repetition,irony and rejection of the narrative language;and the symbolic nature of the narrative characters,i.e.slavish symbols and dehumanising symbols.The narrative features of the Hometown series are important reasons for the stability and recognisability of its narratives.The third chapter focuses on the narrative structure of the Hometown series.The main features are the plot structure of causal succession;the intertextual structure of a specific space;and the cyclical structure of historical time.The absurdity of the plot leads to the repetition of the absurdity of the characters’ cycle,which in turn extends to the space in which they live,and so in this cycle of space and characters,historical time is also caught in the loop of repetition.Finally,the concluding section of the thesis examines the strengths and weaknesses of Liu Zhenyun’s narrative study of his hometown series.The study of narrative does not stop at the external structure of a text,but rather co-exists with the study of the internal structure of a text.It is against the essence of literature to study literature apart from its forms of expression,or to study literature only through its contents.To reflect the literary character of a work,therefore,requires an organic combination of the two.The narrative of the Hometown series is due to the intervention of multiple perspectives,and the narrative time and space of the Hometown series constitutes a multi-temporal body,making time,space and narrative layer present dynamic changes,and in this dynamic change process highlighting its thematic meaning,forming its narrative characteristics and narrative structure.Therefore,the narrative study of the Hometown series is a systematic analysis from internal form to external structure.