American Sinologist Rania Huntington's Literaral Research Of 'Alien Kind'

American sinologist,Rania Huntington,is a professor in East Asian Languages and Literatures Department in University of Wisconsin-Madison,her main research fields are Chinese mystery novels and legends of Tang and Song Dynasty.Her influential works include Alien Kind: Foxes and Late Imperial Chinese Narrative,A cultural reading of the imagined alien: comparison of Chinese fox spirits and Western elemental spirits,Ghosts Seeking Substitutes: Female Suicide and Repetition,etc.Rania Huntington's research in the motif of “alien kind” is the essence of her research in sinology,it's mainly divided into three parts: The first is to discuss the “Intermediate Type” in mystery novel,the second is to interpret the narrative mode “Ghost's Memory”in legends of Tang and Song's Dynasty,the last one is to research the motif of “Searching Scapegoat” in mystery novels.The first chapter discusses Rania Huntington's research on the motif “Intermediate Type” in mystery novel.First of all,it elaborates on the causes and applications of the fox-prostitute model.Through comparing Chinese fairy fox and Western master of elements,it concluded the difference of creative ideas between Ji Yun and Paracelsus and conducted a discussion on “Intermediate Type” and human's identity.The second chapter is the interpretation of Rania Huntington ' s research on “Searching Scapegoat”,which mainly conducted from three aspects in the connotation,two obstructive modes and literary value.Based on explaining Rania Huntington's understanding on the essence of “Searching Scapegoat”,this paper takes a step forward in analyzing two situations of aborting “Searching Scapegoat” behavior and explains four literary values of “Searching Scapegoat”: Suppression of condemnation,beautification of disease,concerning for women and maintaining prestige.The third chapter is about her research on the narrative mode “Ghost's Memory”.Firstly,the formation of this kind of narrative mode is introduced,then the discussion on her two basic characters,poetic character and historical character,is conducted.In the narrative mode of “Ghost's Memory”,the poetic character is mainly represented by three themes,which are exclaiming personal fate,time flying and memorizing perishable prosperity,and the historical character is reflected by the mutual corroboration between the narrative mode “Ghost's Memory” and the history.This paper adopts close-reading method and comparative study method.Based on the research results of Rania Huntington,it combines relevant research in the Chinese and Western academic circles,expounds and discusses the study of "alien kind" literature and puts forward our own opinions accordingly.Through the introspection of some existing thinking patterns in traditional literary studies,the space of researching mystery novels and legends are opened up and some new research ideas are provided in this field.