Studies On Core Critical Catagories Of Fiction Of Dream Of The Red Chamber

Rooted in different cultural field, Chinese and western literary theories vary inknowledge system, way of thinking and value system on different levels. In the fieldof novel theory criticism, the difference is directly embodied in the way ofexpression. With the help of universal concepts, the western narrative theoryupgraded perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge. Meanwhile, rigorous logicdiction system was built by the law of identity and rejection of formal logic.However, the perceptual knowledge of the universal law was always condensed toconcise phrases in Chinese narrative theory. Those phrases were not bounded byformal logic, but focusing on the implication. Therefore, it might be considered asChinese special "concept." Exploring and analyzing the words in Chinese novelcriticism with the special "concept" was undoubtedly conducive to build a Chinesenarrative diction system and develop Chinese narratology. This article studied theimportant comments from five critics on the Dream of Red Mansions, such as ZhiYanZhai, Wang Xilian, Chen Qitai, HaSiBao and Zhang Xinzhi. By reference to thewestern narrative theory, the article summarizes and analyses many core criticismconcepts in the light of narrative structure, rhythm and view angle, plot and figurefrom the comments of the Dream of Red Mansions, in order to dig out the hiddenessence of the Chinese novel narrative theories.Being accustomed to the macro-thinking, Chinese authors first consider the"structure" of narrative genre. Mostly critics commented on "structure" as well. Togeneralize the original ecological landscape of Dream of Red Mansions, ZhiYanzhai proposed the inter-frame of its multidimensional surface narrative structurewas like a luxuriant tree with thousands of branches. As to the deep narrativestructure, the binary opposite conversion of “You” and “Wu” was described aseverything is nothing. The linear logical structure of narrative text, generally, madecritics appraised the plot’s development in chronological order."Fuxian"(foreshadow and response),"Buxie"(writing up) and "Chuancha"(crossing), whichproposed by the critics, means flashforward, flashback and narration interspersedwith flashbacks in western narrative theory. In the view of the critics, as these misplaced time-series finally pointed to the narrative sequence arrangement, they areactually the method of plot development. Zhi Yanzhai remarked the psychedelicspace-time suspense, which was created by implicit flashforward in Dream of RedMansions, as a half blossomed flower or a squiffy eye, attractive but shady. Inaddition, he also noticed that the long-periodic and subtle foreshadow and responsemade sound connections between each chapters. For the fuzzy present creating aninfinite extension of the narrative time and space, ZhiYanZhai doubted whether theflashbacks of Dream of Red Mansions were writing-ups. Besides,as the combinationof flashbacks and retellings, the method of "DaoJuanLian" linked and reflected thenarrative sequence over time and space. And the method of "YunZhaoFengJian", asthe combination of flashbacks and flashforward, displayed the compression of timeand space. But we should owe multidimensional stereo of the surface narrativestructure in Dream of Red Mansions to narration interposed. The complex interposednarrations led to extremely complex narrative sequence. For instance,"HengYunDuanLing"(the primary narrative sequence was interrupted by secondarynarrations) and "QiChuanBaDa"(the mayor narration moved on after aninterruption), which were proposed by ZhiYanZhai, concerned the "interruption" and"moving on" between primary narrative arrays and secondary narrative arrays."LaLaiLaQu" and "ZhanZhuanXiangBi", which were put forward by HaSiBao andZhiYanZhai separately, were used to describe the development doomed to twists andturns, as the result of the primary narrative arrays being constantly inserted bysecondary narrative arrays.The critics of Dream of Red Mansions, of course, always observed thedevelopment of plot and the arrangement of sequence on speed of narration. Basedon fast-pace and slow-pace narrative rhythm, ZhiYanZhai observed thetransformation firstly between detailed description at a slow rhythm andrecapitulative scene at a fast rhythm with the concepts of "ZhongZuoQingMo "(slowto fast) and "MaiJiHuanShou "(fast to slow). And the progress usually existed intransition between two narrative scene."Rhythmic" was judged by Chen Qitai. Allthat matters is the the narrative rhythm of "Zhang " and "Chi ",which referred to therelaxed and tense reading atmosphere created by slow paced narrative rhythm.When analyzing the narrative angle, ZhiYanZha showed a clear distinction among author, narrator, and the reader through “GeZhongRen”(a character in thenovel)for the first time, and then showed the fuzzy switch between theknowledge-limited perspectives of "Mr.Shi" and the omniscient perspective of"narrator ". Besides,Cao XueQin usually transformed the complex plot into simpleone through the knowledge-limited perspectives of characters. The method to avoidcomplex narration of ZhiYanZhai and the way to turn a boring one into fancy ofChenQitai all meant that. but the latter insisted that the knowledge-limitedperspective of character was unreasonable.The innovation of Dream of Red Mansions is more than depicting figure’simage and form, but revealing the depth of human nature. Observing the charactersof Dream of Red Mansions in general, critics all noticed that Cao XueQin was goodat the ethod of contrast. Flagrant the contrast was between different characters,judged by Wang XiLian. The contrast existed in both figures with differentpersonalities at same status and, on the contrary, figures with similar personalitiesbut at different status. Thus, by various contrast, everyone’s personality was vividand outstanding in Dream of Red Mansions. Meanwhile, Cao did well in creatinghuman’s nature by revealing a huge gap between what they presented outside andinside through inward critics, noticed by HaSiBao. From ZhiYanzhai, theall-rounded contrast ("ShangXiaZuoYou ")objectively revealed reflections amongcentral figure and minor figures. As to a micro level, according to ZhiYanZhai,"ShengKou "(the sound of the character)was imicked to represent his or her uniquepersonality. Moreover,"HuLunYu "(vague language) was given to judge theparadoxical complex language,whose function was to reflect the intricacy ofpersonalities. In conclusion, based on the analysis of many aspects in Dream of RedMansions,such as narrative structure, rhythm and view angle, plot and figure, thecritics summarized several concepts with prominent Chinese narrativecharacteristics.These concepts have greatly enriched and developed the category ofancient fiction criticism, and established Chinese modern narrative theory system.