중국의 서사 전통과 현대화

Abstract

Chinese narrative, which had been originally developed under the strong impact of historical writing, transformed itself into a religious narrative, zhiguai, along with an emerging narrative desire for “the Other World,” influenced by Buddhism that had been introduced to China in the Eastern Han times. This sort of narrative was expanded from historical and religious narrative to literary narrative, and in this process, it established the mode of “narrative of the empire,” which captured the world of the periphery through incessant internal expansions by playing literary games, in which “The Other World” paradoxically represented “This World.”“Narrative of the empire,” crucial element of Chinese narrative tradition, has still functioned as a strong narrative mode in contemporary China, where the emergence of the new empire is dreamt of. In particular, everyday narrative practices through mass media are closely interconnected with the memory of splendor of the empire in the past. Previous narratives are modernized by a means of full-pledged reconstruction, while the modernized “narrative of the empire,” literally emulating its past strategy, are continuously reproduced.