| Space and time are the position relationship between things; time is one of the basic physical variables to the action and plots, and space to describe the configuration of objects. The Dream of the Red Chamber and The Tale of Genji are both novels with traditional plots. They follow the sustained natural time sequence with occasional space conversion corresponding to the development of plot which always follows the protagonist’s experience with the beginning, development, climax and ending. The two novels show advanced narrative skills in their own time, although not with narrative characteristics of interwoven space and time typical for a modern novel. This article is divided into the following four parts.Comparative study of narrative techniques in linear time."In the real world, when we narrate two events took place at the same time coincidentally, we have to recount one after the other, or both alternatively and most important of all, in linear time sequence." Both The Dream of the Red Chamber and The Tale of Genji inherit the linear narrative characteristics about time in Spring and Autumn Annals and The Historical Records, revealing an organic combination of chronological record of the dynastic, generation time and chronological age of the characters, which manifests the typical characteristics of linear time narrative of the East Asian Classical Novels. The linear time narrative of The Tale of Genji is a single straight one with no diversion."When you read cursorily, no specialty will be identified in it; when you search carefully, a clue will be found to link up all parts of the novel." The time narrative skills of The Dream of the Red Chamber are closer to those of the modern novel with mixed episodes, fragments and interludes of time in certain parts of the novel. But we cannot deny the thorough narrative time coherence of the novel. The technique of narrative time in The Dream of the Red Chamber is more flexible and changeable than that of The Tale ofGenji, although not so clear as in the latter, representing the rapid development of narrative techniques of time in novels of Qing Dynasty. The technique to the novel is what silk to cocoons. Only when the cocoon has been woven could we know the refinement of silk during the process. Actually, the main flow of narrative time, which can’t be back, controls effectively the whole text of The Dream of the Red Chamber.A comparative study of time modal narrative skills."The sun and the moon are overlapping each other, without pause; spring and autumn alternate, without end. Like the flowers and trees are withered, lest the beauty will also be." In Chinese traditional thought, the rheology of time is not only an objective physical phenomenon, but also closely corresponding to the people’s psychological feeling. Seasonal alternation always drives things on, which is also the necessary condition for plot development in both The Dream of the Red Chamber and the Tale of Genji. In the two novels, the evolution of things is combined closely with natural seasonal changes, leading to an organic combination of outside scenery with internal emotional conflicts. In the aspect of time modal narrative skills, both authors are accomplished in "expressing intense feeling via the scenery description, or hiding violent emotions in the landscape description (Yu Qi yu Jing, Yu Jing yu Qi)". And in both novels, imagination is anterior to logic, while sensibility is more important than the speculative in the aspect of narrative art. The Dream of the Red Chamber attracts the readers with its ups and downs of plots, whose development is assisted by seasonal changes. It is close to the modern narrative techniques. The Tale of Genji focuses on expressing personal feeling by the description of seasonal changes, paying more attention to prose lyric characteristic of the text writing."All words about scenery are affection language", in both novels."Lyric" and "Narrative" skills are closely united. At the same time, the two books adopt flexible metaphor discourse system to express the "meaning" without being bound by "meaning". Paying more attention to "Lyric," the narrative traits of Chinese and Japanese classical novels are opposite to those of Western classical novels which focus on "the Narrative".A comparative study of geography spatial narrative skills. Time is flowing and changeable, implying the meaning of newborn and disillusionment. Space is static and steady, gazing at the text at a certain still moment. In both novels, the topology space of story provides the character with a relatively closed external environment. Stories occur in small areas like the Deep Palaces, which are beyond the reach of ordinary people. Featured by a small group of people with high ranks, reflecting an epitome of the land, the stories happened in the limited Yard have features of local chronicles."Pen Garden", an important narrative feature, makes the two books different from other classical works. In this feature, both novelists take advantage of different plant imagery to foil person nature and exaggerate the atmosphere in the story, by setting up landscape according to person or plot and vegetation according to landscape. With Garden, the two novelists construct a poetic dwelling, and the ideal of Utopia, where they escape from reality and avoid disputes. In the process of construction, they tasted the sweetness of life. The description of the garden imagery in two works reveals the pursuit of truth, the satisfactory, and the pretty. On the other hand, ancient Japanese garden is a branch of Chinese ancient landscape architecture. In China, humanist elements strongly influenced garden art since ancient period, stressing grace and elegance in conception, together with ethical teachings. Japanese Garden’s fascinating part is to cause a person to meditate on the inherent qualities of something through outside world, to advocate a dialogue between a person and the Divinity, human and nature, laying more emphasis on the epiphany of the core of the universe. Characteristics of different geography space in the two books reflect the different time and different national cultural characteristics of different regions. The similarity and difference of Chinese and Japanese cultures result from the geographic and cultural affinity with each other for centuries. Reflected in the text, the two cultures share so many similarities while holding their own unique ethnic customs.A comparative study on the spatial structure of narrative text. In this part of research, one task is to make a comparative study of narrative structure of the two books, and the other the comparative study of the various genres narrative model of the two books. There are numerous disputes about main narrative clue of The Dream of the Red Chamber, as the reason is that different perspective and appreciation of angle cause all kinds of aesthetic value and value identity. The Dream of the Red Chamber has three main narrative clues—the family fortune, the romance between God Ying and Grass Jiangzhu, Baoyu’s fortune, the third clue twisting the former two together strongly. The Tale of Genji has four main clues—Reizeitei conception system, Akasihime conception system, Onnnasannnomiya conception system, Murasakinoje conception system, the former three systems receiving and carrying on in reciprocal, the fourth system (Murasakinoje conception system) having been winding with the former three conception systems with a synchronous development. A comparative study of the two novels’structural frame reveals the striking similarities in the structural characteristics of the two novels. The first point is that the main body structure is simple and clear, with narrative in a straight-forward way, and situation developing step by step. The main girder in narrative text is consisted by a plurality of spindle, just like a hemp rope. One of the main shafts runs through several other spindles, and tightly twists them together. The second point is there are many buried narrative clue in these continuous uninterrupted frames. These large and small narrative systems set up an organic narrative space. Both books have a temporal-and-spatial network which can be taken easily by the head rope. This kind of narrative effect of the two books means once the key link grasped, everything else falls into place in writing. This part will also have a comparative study of various genres narrative model of classical novel, for example:per—saying master species, love and amativeness species, oracle species, imperial power species, myth and legend species, the dream species. |
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