Narrative Devices, Spiritual Enlightenment and a Community of Common Kindness: Interpreting Chi Zijian's Urban Writing in the Stories of Harbin

Abstract

In her latest novel, the Stories of Harbin (Yanhuo Manjuan), Chi Zijian strives to portray an urban life imprinted with her personal experience. In order to effectively connect the various aspects of urban life and showcase its liveliness, she creates three special elements of narrative devices: A volunteer ambulance, Yuying Courtyard, and a sparrow hawk “Little Harrier.” These elements are beyond ordinary things as they assume the narrative ethical functions of providing possibilities for the unfolding of storylines, summarizing general urban life experiences and uniting a community of common kindness. Chi depicts the architecture, culture and geography, as well as the residents’ daily life, hardships and destiny within the city. In addition, from outside the city, she shapes the image of Huang E, a unique child of nature, which not only enriches the character categories of Chinese contemporary literature, but also provides spiritual enlightenment to resolving the plight of urban life. The urban writing of Chi carries forward the spiritual guidance and the modern introspective consciousness embedded in her previous writing and blazes a new trail for urban writing in Chinese contemporary literature.

Keywords

Stories of Harbin, Chi Zijian, narrative device, spiritual enlightenment, a community of common kindness

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