"meige" Narrative Inquiry

On the basis of the text of the Yi people’s oral epic poetry Meige in Chuxiong Prefecture and the western literature research methodology in the 20th century-the narrative and oral formulaic theories, the present thesis discusses the narrative style, structure, vision and formula of Meige. Owing to the fact that, for a long time, there exist researches on oral epic poetry ouside literature and as a result, researches on Meige in terms of its literature and discourse have been ignored, the present author points out that an emphasis on the Meige research from its literary ontology must be laid for its heritage and protection, so that a much wider research vision for Meige can be provided in theory and methodology.The present thesis consists of five parts.In Introduction Part, based on the origin and development of the narrative theory and the contributions of the oral poetry to the oral epic poetry, the present thesis gives an analysis to the theoretical background, methods and vision of the Meige research in China. Meanwhile, the present author proposes that at present China, researches on Meige has gone far from its literature, and thus, it is extremely important to go back to its literature-an introduction of the narrative and oral formulaic theories to Meige studies, so as to find out the laws in the text production of Meige.Chapter One focuses on the narrative style of Meige. In the light of the narrative theory and through a comparison between mythology and epic poetry, the present author argues that Meige manages to weaken the emotions, plot and character images, and thus it has become a great truth-seeking narrative epic poetry of the Yi people. It is through such a pure narrative characteristic that the Yi people’s seeking for authenticity and nature can be seen in Meige.Chapter Two deals with the narrative structure of Meige. Meige is characterized with 4 perspectives. That is, the linear sequence in narrative time, god-thing-man-ghost demension in narrative space, the onlookers and implicit narrators in narration, the omniscient and single viewpoint in narritive foucuses. This chapter also explores the ideology of the Yi people in specific circumstances.Chapter Three copes with the narrative fomula of Meige. The fomula in the grammatical structure are as follows:two models in semantics-couplet-connected assembly and generalization-specification or specification-generalization, two models in sentence structure-repetition of stentence patterns and stanza, as well as well as the word fomula. Meanwhile, in this chapater, the present author argues the Yi people’s thinking style and its merits in the formula.In Conclusion Part, the present thesis proposes that researches on Meige in the narrative and oral formulaic theories help to find out the laws in the text of Meige in different cultures, so as to explore a much wider research area for Meige in theories and approaches in the modern times.