Abstract:

The antenarrative takes many forms in ancient Chinese novels with varied functions, and religions and folklore are among the main source of influences on its formations. The religion-influenced antenarratives may be classified into explicit, implicit, undetermined and multiple antenarratives in terms of their function. The antenarrative plays an important role in the overall design, the narrative schema, and the setup of suspense in the ancient novels, and suggests a unique national characteristic of Chinese classical novels. The folklore-influenced antenarrative takes the form of "the entry to the story (ru hua)," "the head to chapters (tou hui)," the comments of the story-teller and the story-end "lessons," which foreshadow the plot development in the later chapters. The paper concludes that the incorporation of antenarrative enhances the structure of the novel and the flow of narration, and heightens the expectation of readers.

Key words: antenarrative, religious thinking, folk story-telling, structure of novels