A Comparative Study Of The Chinese And English Versions Of Mo Yan’s The Republic Of Wine From The Perspective Of Cognitive Narratology

Cognitive narratology is an important subfield of post-classical narratologies. In recent years, the developing cognitive narratology, which borrows ideas and approaches both from classical narratology in literary critics and from experimental psychology in cognitive sciences, provides a new perspective for the study of language, narrative, and mind. Unlike literary critics, cognitive narratology focuses on the mutual influence between language and cognition. It pays more attention to readers’ mind-relevant aspects of narrating process and how narrative makes sense to the readers.This thesis makes an attempt to probe into the feasibility of the application of cognitive narratological methodologies to narrative analysis by applying Monika Fluernik’s proposal to the narratological analysis of Chinese and English versions of Mo Yan’s novel, the Republic of Wine, especially the novel’s narrative structure. Meanwhile, the aesthetic value of the narrative framework in the novel is elaborated through the lens of cognitive narratology. Moreover, the cognitive narratological differences between the two versions are analyzed. At last, the interaction between narrative and cognition is explained based mainly on David Herman’s proposal.The study shows that Chinese version and English version share the same “imaginative narrative framework” and the whole narrative of the Republic of Wine invokes different forms of constituting consciousness. The framework of a threedimensional space created by three narrative threads, the different forms of constituting consciousness in the novel the Republic of Wine are techniques and strategies employed to increase the length and difficulty of perception. The innovative and imaginative framework of the Republic of Wine is far beyond the reading experience of readers. Mo Yan’s experimentation and exploration in the Republic of Wine promote the novel’s artistic and aesthetic value. This unprecedented experimental text, especially the English version, is indeed a huge challenge for common readers at the same time. This thesis applied Fludernik’s proposals to text analysis. The research approach and the analyzing process can serve as a reference for the growing number of people concerned with applying cognitive narratological proposals and theories to narrative studies.