Text and Talk: Classical Literary Tales in Traditional China and the Context of Casual Oral Storytelling

Abstract

This article represents an attempt to re-examine the tradition of classical literary tales in China, understanding them not as literature but as products of amateur oral storytelling that took place in elite circles. Evidence abounds of such stories being initially circulated among the literati of traditional times; examples from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) are especially plentiful. This article aims 1) to challenge the current literary-critical reading of the tales by introducing the perspective of folklore and discourse analysis; and 2) to venture a new conceptual model for delineating the relationship among the various categories of traditional Chinese short narratives that have been grouped together rather indiscriminately.