Double temporality and its significance: A narrative analysis of Chinese fiction in the nineteen eighties

The nineteen eighties witnessed the emergence of a body of Chinese literature very well comparable to those representing the best of the world literature. The narratological study vigorously undertaken by the present thesis has enabled the investigation of this body of literature, prose fictional works in this case, to be conducted in the broadest international literary contexts which are essential to the critical studies and aesthetic assessments of this portion of the Chinese literary heritage. In order to assure the success of such an analysis with its broadest scope, a serious effort is made to synthesize a working methodology which not only combines the paradigms of structuralism and post-structuralism but also reflects the principles of East-West comparative literary studies. The thesis takes as its point of investigation narrative temporality, an important aspect of narratological studies, in order to establish a meaningful linkage between double temporality in its variant forms and the thematic significations which various selected sample stories try eagerly to convey. Through the interdisciplinary studies of the temporal structures and their contextual implications of those selected Chinese stories, the thesis also attempts to explore the further significance of such analyses. In its own way, the thesis intends to convince the international literary community that Chinese fiction of the nineteen eighties is well worth its critical attention.