Predictability and Uncertainty: A Structural Analysis of Characterization in <i>Shiji</i>

YANG Lei

doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214103

Volume 4 Issue 1

Mar. 2021

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YANG Lei. Predictability and Uncertainty: A Structural Analysis of Characterization in Shiji[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(1): 36-55. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214103

Citation:

YANG Lei. Predictability and Uncertainty: A Structural Analysis of Characterization in Shiji[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(1): 36-55. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214103

YANG Lei. Predictability and Uncertainty: A Structural Analysis of Characterization in Shiji[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(1): 36-55. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214103

Citation:

YANG Lei. Predictability and Uncertainty: A Structural Analysis of Characterization in Shiji[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(1): 36-55. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214103

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Predictability and Uncertainty: A Structural Analysis of Characterization in Shiji

doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214103

YANG Lei^,

Carleton College

Received Date: 2020-09-07
Rev Recd Date: 2020-10-16

Abstract

Abstract

Using a structural perspective,this article analyzes how characters are built in the historical work Shiji《史记》(Records of the Grand Historian),written by the Han historian Sima Qian司马迁(?145-86 BCE).While the adept charac-terization of Shiji has been considered the peak of Chinese standard histories,previous scholarship has mostly studied the portrayals of character by dividing them into categories such as appearance,speech,act,psychological penetration,and so on.The emphasis of individual aspects of character causes an overlook of their interrelations in between.Narratological definitions of characters emphasize their entirety,shedding light on the correlations between their propositions.The textual nature of characters is a logical sum of traits,which can only be achieved when the narratives are stable and unified texts.The fundamental difference between Shiji and its predecessors in characterization lies in their structural divergence:the self-contained narrative units in earlier texts only allow fragmented distribution of character traits at the episode level,whereas the unified textual structure of Shiji empowers a coherent and integrated characterization process at the account level.From pre-imperial narratives to Shiji,Chinese historical narratives underwent a significant structural transformation:Sima Qian's creation of biography as a new textual form was revolutionary in stabilizing the textual sequence and thereby establishing an internal logic within an account,which allows for his painstaking attachment of propositions to characters.Characters forged in Shiji are thus coherent,organic,whole entities,differing remarkably from those fragmented and contradictory images seen in earlier histories.Meanwhile,its storyline incorporates unpredictable elements in a logical way to throw twists and turns in the protagonists'paths.I argue that the predictability of Shiji's characters,coupled with the uncertainty of its events,prioritizes the historical process over outcome,distinguishing Shiji from other histories and explaining its influence upon narrative literature of later ages.
- histories,
- narratives,
- Sima Qian,
- Shiji,
- Zuozhuan,
- characterization

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References(46)

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