A Study On Jin Shengtan’s Theory Of Narrative Works Structure

The Fifth Book Written by Gifted Person,Shi Nai’an’s Outlaws of the Marsh,is a novel comment work by Jin Shengtan,a literary critic at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.It is also a peak of Chinese novel comment.Jin Shengtan’s structural theory was basically shaped in The Outlaws of the Marsh.He cut the original book into 70 chapter,wrote a reading method,three prefaces,a Song Shi Duan and a preface falsely entrusted to Shi Nai’an for The Outlaws of the Marsh,and wrote a general review before each chapter.In the article,he wrote mixed comments and eyebrow criticisms,presenting his understanding of The Outlaws of the Marsh.What kind of structure should The Outlaws of the Marsh have,why it is such a structure,and what is the artistic effect of this structure? Jin Shengtan theorized these issues and extended them to all narrative works.The full text is divided into the following four chapters:The first chapter discusses the relationship between the overall structure and the theme of Jin Shengtan’s Outlaws of the Marsh.Jin Shengtan believes that the overall structure of the narrative works serves the ideological theme.His deletion and comments on The Outlaws of the Marsh not only make The Outlaws of the Marsh show a different overall structure from the original book,but also show his unique understanding of the theme.The theme and the overall structure also show the aesthetic characteristics of the coexistence of the nothingness and the real.The second chapter discusses Jin Shengtan’s Big Structure Theory.To grasp the narrative works at the story level,it is necessary to find out the nodes with important narrative functions and divide the large paragraphs of the narrative works.This division is not to cut apart a narrative work,but to clarify how the important parts are related to each other,so that the work can be more clearly presented as a whole.The third chapter analyzes Jin Shengtan’s theory of structural skills.A narrative work consists of many short stories,which need to use some structural skills to skillfully cause,undertake,transform and combine stories.The structural art of The Outlaws of the Marsh and even Chinese classical novels is basically embodied in structural skills,which can reflect the unique aesthetic orientation of Chinese narrative art.The fourth chapter discusses the relationship between character image and structure.The Outlaws of the Marsh is a biographical work,focusing on character stories,which not only form all aspects of the novel structure,but also shape a wealth of characters.Jin Shengtan attached great importance to the relationship between characters and structure,which directly influenced the critics of later generations,and formed a huge difference from western Structuralism.The study of characterization in Jin Shengtan’s structural theory can directly show the characteristics of relevance of Chinese narrative aesthetics.