Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2020, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (2): 130-138.

• Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Non-fictionality of Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold: On the Stylistic Effect of Literary Game on Lu Xun's Historical Writing

 Li Jianhuai, Zhao Guangya   

  1. the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Anhui Science and Technology University; the School of Liberal Arts, Jiangsu Second Normal University
  • Online:2020-03-25 Published:2020-04-27
  • About author:Li Jianhuai, Ph. D., is an associate professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Anhui Science and Technology University. His research focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese literature. Zhao Guangya, Ph. D., is an associate professor at the School of Liberal Arts, Jiangsu Second Normal University. His research interests are modern and contemporary Chinese literature.

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Abstract: Lu Xun's Old Tales Retold can be regarded as an absolutely unique voice in the history of China's "New Literature." It demonstrates an originality as non-fictionality of the stories, with imagistic modernist discourse interacting with with the ancient discourse. This resulted in a multi-voiced image-full textual world which contributes to the alienation of literary discourse, the estrangement of aesthetic experience, and the rhetoric effect of parody and irony. It hence broke the boundaries of reality and fiction, undermined the authenticity of historical writing, removed the barriers between fiction and non-fiction as well as those between literature and non-literature, and deconstructed the inherent requirements of fiction. It is Lu Xun's free spirit of game that impregnated such a masterpiece sui generis.

Key words: Old Tales Retold, game, language images, reality, fictionality, style