The Folk Narrative Of Sandalwood Penalty

Mo Yan's "Sandalwood Penalty" has brought a great shock to people, owing to its profound meaning, fine description, unique perspective and strong emotion. "Sandalwood Penalty" is another self-identification for Mo Yan and it is the first time that he declared his concession to folk writing. Compared with the imitation of modern western narrative art in 1980s, this transition and confirmation indicate that contemporary fiction was re-exploring the new direction from civil society. Firstly, selecting the view of folk narrative and starting from the context, this work deeply discover the contexts from the abundant folk resources. The author used the folklore, folk customs, folk spiritual beliefs smoothly to bring the context back to earthy land. The rich folk materials support the folk narrative of the work. Next, the most prominent feature of the text-"listening to stories"-was summarized in the respect of narrative perspective and language. The perfect combine of full perspective and limited perspective and the integration of "mem" make read books as watching a drama. The sound from every character comes one after another. This special kind of reading-"reading via ear"-has become another representative element for Mo Yan. It is also the author's one useful attempt in the folk narrative. Finally, the significance of "Sandalwood Penalty" to contemporary literature was explored as well as the various development of folk narrative from 1954 to 1990s. The positive impact for literary to pursue Chinese style and Chinese character was discussed as well based on the recovery of traditional Chinese culture. In all, although this attempt of backing off by Mo Yan does have its shortcomings and stiff expression, the pursuit of personal narrative and the integration of modern art show the strong creative vitality by Mo Yan.