On Narrative Time And Narrative Space Of Ye Zhaoyan’s Novel

Ye Zhaoyan continuously makes reforms and innovations over the forms and techniques in composing novels, seeking the provenance of the art of novel extending the narrative possibility, therefore has been called as a "heresy that cannot be ’classified’" and "master of possibility". Technique tests sincerity. His unremitting cultivation of techniques can be fully manifested in his exploration of narrative time and narrative space.Narrative time refers to the time state specifically rendered out from the narrative text, including the sequencing adopted in the text in narrating a story, the proportional relation between the natural time duration and the narrative time duration of the story, and the issue of frequency triggered by the time the events are narrated. The sequential disassembly and the structure of subjective time network reflect Ye Zhaoyan’s postmodern time view; the tension between the narrative rhythm and the life rhythm reflected from the story layer embodies the author’s aesthetic pursuit known as "anticlimax", which forms the unique charm of the novels; while techniques such as repetitive narration, space-time juxtaposition, and so forth reflect the author’s pursuit for the implication of the novels and uniform spatial scenario. The exploration of the novels in time dimension reflects Ye Zhaoyan’s self-conscious pursuit for spatial narration, which invokes a way of "cyclic reading" to treat his works and overall grasp of the implication of the novels. The spatial form of the novels gives more symbolic colors to Ye Zhaoyan’s narration. It transcends above the temporary uproar of ideology, reaching the height of metaphor for human’s overall survival predicament.The concept of "space" in modem narratology "between focus (where space expression is a method under specific situations) and site (a category of material element)" refers to the site in correlation with the specific perceptual points in narration, hence is treated as a self-contained category that can make analysis uniquely, serving as both a signifier on the geographical scale and the signified on the narrative scale. In Ye Zhaoyan’s novels, the writings regardless of whether the old image of Qinhuai or the Nanjing at the republic empress times, and of whether the historical space or the current daily space, have left people with a deep impression. Not only are they the "venues of actions" that make a structural effect, but under many situations, the space per se has become the objects of narratives, which are "thematized" in the novels and therefore become an important way to demonstrate figures’mental activities, shape figures and reveal the subject of work. Nay, Ye Zhaoyan is good at structuring spatial imageries by successive time, making time concentrated, condensed, and become fleshy.and blooded. While extraordinary attentions are worth paying to the role the account of the dynamic space emerging in a sense of space-time combination plays in the novels.Both time and space are important elements in the narrations of Ye Zhaoyan’s novels, both referring and reacting to each other. In the novels, the author has artistically grasped the important link between time relation and spatial relation, thereby has creatively mixed time and space together. By studying Ye Zhaoyan’s novels from the perspective of narrative time and narrative space, one can open up a new dimension for research, thereby understand deeply the author’s writing features and artistic attitude.