Recently, Lecturer Li Li from College of International Studies at Shenzhen University has her paper titled Narrative Transgression and Chinese Meta-sensibility published in Signs and Media, a CSSCI journal in China.
The literary device of narrative transgression is widely spread in literary and artistic works, and is often associated with Western modernism and postmodernism. However, when tracing its origin, we can find that in Chinese literary and artistic works, the idea of stratification and narrative transgression techniques have a long history, which are deeply rooted in the profound meta-sensibility of Chinese traditional culture. This paper combs through this tradition from four perspectives, aiming to uncover and inherit the cultural and philosophical resources.
1. Journal introduction
Signs and Media, founded in 2008, is sponsored by Institute of Semiotics and Media Studies at Sichuan University. Focusing on the interdisciplinary fields of semiotics and communication studies, it is committed to systematically expanding semiotic methods to multiple humanities and social sciences, thereby broadening the horizons and frontiers of semiotic research. Papers collected in this journal usually reflect the latest research achievements and theoretical frontiers.
2. Contents of this research
This paper mainly examines the four philosophical and literary origins of narrative transgressions in Chinese literary and artistic works, namely, “Grotto-Heavens” in Taoism, “Samsāra” in Buddhism, “Paradox” in Mohism and the hierarchical view in traditional Chinese literary theory and rhetoric.
Firstly, the Grotto-Heavens in Taoism is linked with embedded narratives. In Chinese literary tradition, the prototypes of embedding took shape over a thousand years ago, such as the theme of “spitting out women” in Taoist stories and the Taoist concepts of Grotto-Heaven represented by images of caves, gourds and pots.
Secondly, “Samsāra” in Buddhism is linked with strange-loop narratives. The Dependent Origination Theory in Buddhism believes in interconnection and universal causality among things. The cause and effect are not fixed but interdependent and changing. This idea is in line with Möbius narratives, where the secondary level of narrative transforms into the source that generate the higher level of narrative.
Thirdly, the paradoxical logic of Mohism is linked with the narrative paradox of self-reference. In ancient China, Mohism school proposed the paradoxical ideas such as “all words are wrong”. Mohism should be regarded as one of the origins of self-reference paradox.
At last, the hierarchical meta-sensibility is reflected in Chinese literary works and rhetoric. The device of progressive escalation is common in Chinese rhetoric. For example, “Heaven’s timing is not as important as Earth’s terrain, and Earth’s terrain is not as important as human harmony.” These sentences often delve deeper according to the relationships such as size and height. In traditional literature, it is very common to see meta narration and narrative transgressions, such as the stories in A Supplement to the Journey to the West and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
3. Conclusion of this research
This research has shown that although the awakening of meta-sensibility has emerged on a large scale with the rise of modernism and postmodernism, in traditional Chinese thoughts, meta-sensibility has a long and profound history, and philosophical and literary traditions have been very sensitive to it. Yijing, Laozi, Zhuangzi and Zen philosophy have even become a supporting source for Western postmodernism. The narrative transgression in Chinese stories is not only an imitation of Western modern and postmodern works, but also an inheritance and development of traditional Chinese thinking and literary forms.
The successful publication of this paper reflects the innovative vitality of College of International Studies in the fields of literary theory research and narratology research. In the future, our teachers will continue to explore the construction of theoretical system of Chinese narratology.
4. Author Introduction
Li Li, Ph. D. in literature, lecturer at College of International Studies, Shenzhen University. Her main researching fields are narratology and semiotics.
