A Narratological And Stylistic Analysis Of Lu Xun Stories And Their Translations

Basing the analysis on the angle of form, this thesis consists of five parts: Introduction; Narrative Order, Rhythm, and Levels; Points of View and Narrator; Modes of Speech; and Conclusion."Introduction" mainly answers two questions: "Why are western Narratological and Stylistic theories applied to undertake this research?" and "Why are Lu Xun's works chosen as the analytical texts?" The former is attributable to the fact that the two schools of theory (concentrating on the "form techniques" of literary "text") may serve as a complementation to Chinese literary criticism (mainly emphasizing the "content" factors of the writing). The latter is due to the fact that Lu Xun is labeled as an extraordinary stylist in modern Chinese literature. His creative works are literary pioneers both in theme and technique. Many of his works abound with exotic elements, ranking without parallel in the history of Chinese literature.Chapter I first gives an introduction to the key narrative components: story and discourse. Then from three perspectives it discusses: 1. The relations between the natural order of the events of a story and the order of their presentation by discourse, with the emphasis on the flashback. Four of Lu Xun stories are formulated into a chart to offer an analysis on the anachronous sequences. 2. The relations between the duration of the discoursive presentation and that of the actual story events. Focuses are put on the five possibilities of narrative movements: pause, scene, summary; ellipsis, and stretch, with examples from both Lu Xun and western writers. What follow are discussions on the different narrative speed or rhythm occurring from the varied alternations of the above narrative movements. 3. Narrative levels: the frame or embedded narrative structure, and the three types of relationship between the second and first narrative, as well as their embodiment in Lu Xun stories.Chapter n primarily explains the concept of Genette's term "focalization" and subdivides it into zero, internal, and external ones, on the basis of which a similar classification by Shen Dan is induced. Then an Aesop's fable is told four times from fourpoints of view for the sake of making themselves clear. On this condition, a general classification of Lu Xun stories concerning different points of view is made into a diagram. Part two of this chapter elaborates on the first-person narrators in Lu Xun stories, with an endeavor to explore the aesthetic values underneath. Two aspects are discussed as follows: (1) from omniscience to restriction, (2) control of distance. Illustrated with dozens of Lu Xun stories, the thesis tries to reveal V. Shklovsky's concept of "defamiliarization" and W.C. Booth's term "aesthetic distance", whereafter a comparison is drawn between Lu Xun's The New-Year Sacrifice and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Part three turns its attention to the omniscient narrative, discussing features of both overt and covert commentary (particularly the latter), and selective omniscience (an omniscient narrator may give preference to only a few, or even one of the characters, i.e. he is generally selective when he chooses to enter a mind), still supported by abundant extractions from William M. Thackeray, J. Austen, and Lu Xun, etc.Chapter HI is subdivided into three parts. The first two parts concentrate on Leech and Short's five-basic-mode distinction: Direct Speech, Indirect Speech, Free Direct Speech, Free Indirect Speech, and Narrative Report of Speech Act, together with their different functions and features. All is illustrated in detail with solid examples from both Lu Xun and English writers. The last probes into the specialities of Chinese indirect speech, which is sought out for its sharp difference - no tense indicators and weak subordination - from its English counterpart. Due to the bilingual differences, a few more words are added to manifest their specialities and, consequently, the handling of their translations: 1. Blend - dual nature between direct and indirect: the omission of personal pr...