Abstract
ABSTRACTThe Nobel Laureate Mo Yan has long been hailed by Chinese scholars as leading the literary trend of “new historical fiction,” yet in this article I argue that Mo Yan’s fantasy novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out exemplifies a historical consciousness that is essentially postmodern. In this novel, through the fictional construction of a multidimensional fantastic time that encompasses both a lineal passage of time and its cyclical repetition, a postmodernist deconstruction of authoritative historical narrative and a reconstruction of historical justice are realized. Specifically, the repetition of cyclical time creates a spectrality effect, permanently opening up the present to the past, therefore offering historical justice to those injured in the past. The novel belongs to what Linda Hutcheon terms “historiographic metafiction,” yet its poignant social critique offers a conscientious intervention in fictional history construction.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
