Chinese Narratology

Abstract

This chapter proposes examining Chinese narrative theory from a transnational and comparative perspective. To draw attention to a comparativist turn in current narrative studies, it addresses three broad questions: why compare, what to compare, and how to compare. A transnational and comparative perspective is expected to decolonize and to subvert the hegemony of European and Anglo-American narrative theory and, thus, both pave the way for the rise of marginalized narrative theories and draw attention to neglected and peripheral narratives. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines the etymological usage of the term narrative and its development in Chinese literary history. Though Chinese narrative is concerned more with the factual than the fictional in early times, it has been developed rather fully within fiction. It specifically investigates Chinese narratology with reference to both the Chinese narrative tradition and its connection with Western narratology.