Inheritance And Pioneer:Three Narrative Way Of Li Yu’s Vernacular Novels

In the history of the vernacular novels,Li Yu in the Ming and Qing Period was the great master after Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu,whose related novels were included in Voiceless Opera and Twelve Towers.As far as the vernacular novels in the Qing Dynasty are concerned,only Ai Na Buddhist’s Doupeng Rambling Talk can be compared with Li Yu’s creative achievements.This vernacular novels by Li Yu have the distinctive character of “there is a new life in every chapter”(Sun Kaidi’s words).The formation of this kind of individuality lies in the fact that Li Yu’s vernacular novels are generally about recent and current events,and integrated into his own life experiences,emotional experiences and philosophical concepts,whose form individualization in the creation of novels that show talent and personality.For example,different novels in a same Li Yu’s anthology of vernacular novels are all connected in the aspects of narrative and value construction.That is quite different from the monotonous narrative system of Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu’s vernacular novels which is based on ancient and former events and imitation of old examples.The vernacular novels of Li Yu are full of fresh spirit,which rely on not only the new external form but also the new internal narration mechanism.The novelty of lather is vividly reflected in his space narrative integrating life experience,the humorous narrative of parody and irony,and the female narrative of pursuing self-worth under the traditional patriarchal discourse system.Li Yu’s vernacular novels are accustomed to use special space or the breaking of space to form the transformation of whispering space and form a specific narrative scene to develop a new storyline,and then break through the constraints of traditional narrative system,conventional thinking and the cultural context of the era,rendering “new life” in his novels.The “new life” of the novels is not the material existence of the novel as a text,but the “new life” of the characters in the novels,especially the “newness” of the female characters.The female characters in Li Yu’s vernacular novels include women who follow traditional values and “new” women who conform to their inner self and affirm their individual values.Even if such “new” women cannot completely break away from the norms of traditional etiquette,Li Yu still sets the flexible real-life space enabling “new” women to posit themselves more.However,due to the limitations of the times,Li Yu cannot go beyond the rules to construct a new space,and the farcicality narrative has become an effective way to eliminate the double shackles of traditional ethical norms and realistic social systems.The farcicality narrative juxtaposition of parody and irony has formed the humor of the narrative discourse,the drama of the plot and the aesthetic emotion in Li Yu’s vernacular novels.All in all,the new narrative system of Li Yu’s novels have promoted the improvement of the narrative art of vernacular novels,and can even be said to form a new paradigm for the creation of vernacular novels.