On "You're On The Plateau" Narrative Art

You are in the plateau focuses on mental state of intellectuals who were born in1950s through which we can understand the past and future. Zhangwei, the author,demonstrates us modern intellectuals’ mental predicament, and further what theirpreference is when they face difficulties. The author shows his unwaveringmoral-stand and intellectuals’ independent critical spirit. The hero ‘commutes’between the city and country frequently. During this period, he meets a lot of poorpeople gradually developing a firm faith in nature, and starts to insist on "looking forpoetic dwelling". The inner psychological states show the author’s concentration onthe character itself, promoting Zhangwei’s investigation on the eternal theme–thehuman beings. That is another peak of contemporary Chinese literature.This paper, being based on narrative space theory, adopts close reading method,trying to grasp the main idea of the novel from four chapters.The first chapter focuses on geographical reality–the living space. Zhangwei, interms of ‘transformation’ between the urban and rural, displays the homeland of hismemory. Through the conflict between traditional and modern life, the authordevelops a serious thinking about the negative effect on the environment and the fateof the people at the bottom. The second chapter addresses on the illusory–the innerpsychological space. There appears a lot of fable-like plots and historical legends inthe novel, all of which constitute unreal imaginary space. The narrative strategy thatauthor uses in the novel leads to the appearance of the a lot of psychological venting,verses and novel narration style, showing readers the inner psychological states of thecharacters. The third chapter analyzes "trauma" memory and narrative mode. The"trauma" memory promotes the creation of You are in Plateau and the use of "thesearch for the holy grail" narrative mode. The fourth chapter points out the repeatedplot setting in You are in Plateau, and contends that those solutions provided by noveldo not have obvious significance in solving the plight of the reality.