A Study on Narrative Art of Raise the Red Lantern

Abstract

In the history of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, Su Tong, a leading representative of avant-garde writers, is good at using creatively narrative skills to develop his stories. Raise the Red Lantern is one of his famous masterpieces, which ranks among the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century. The story began with a small sedan chair carrying Lotus, a 19-year-old college student, into Chen Family. She was going to be a fourth concubine for Chen Zuoqian, a 50-year-old master of Chen family. The books tells the unfortunate marriage and tragic fate of Lotus under the feudal system in Chen family. This paper aimed to analyze and appreciate narrative art in Raise the Red Lantern from three aspects: narrative contents, narrative language and narrative techniques, which will enrich the interpretation of the novella. Su Tong made use of vivid characterization, delicate environmental description, rich metaphors and symbols as well as intradiegetic narrator to represent the readers the tragedy of women in a feudal family and provoke in-dept thinking of fate of women group.