On the “Mythological Retelling” of Su Tong’s <i>Binu</i>

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to compare the selection and construction of many ancient versions of Meng Jiang Nü’s story in the text of Binu, and to contrast the “mythological thinking” and “folk thinking” contained in the text. In this way, the modern reflections on the story of Meng Jiang Nü, which has been passed down for thousands of years, are explored. First, the focus of this paper is on the theory of “Archetypal Criticism” throughout the text, and then this thesis will concentrate on the relationship between the story of “Meng Jiang Nü crying at the Great Wall” and the writer’s retelling of the text. The breakthrough of the latter over the former is the inheritance and development of “mythological thinking”. Therefore, this paper will focus on the structure of thinking embedded in Binu, including mythological thinking, and the unique innovation of “new mythology”—“folklore mythological thinking”. In the archetypal criticism, the meaning of the text is related to the contradiction between desire and reality, and the myth is expressed in the form of “ritual” and “dream”, which represent the “narrative content” and “meaning content” of literature respectively. Therefore, this paper explores the mythological thinking of Binu through the rituals of burial and mourning. In addition, the integration of “mythological thinking” and “folklore” in the text of Binu is manifested in two aspects: “human-animal consubstantiation” and the use of folklore resources. Secondly, two important applications of “archetypal theory” in Binu are the metaphors of “tears” and “gourd”. Finally, this thesis will explore the role they play in the “retelling of the myth” in Binu.