Imitation and Transgression： Ge Fei＇s Creative Use of Jorge Luis Borges＇s Narrative Labyrinth
This paper attempts to trace the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Ge Fei. It shows that Ge Fei＇s stories share Borges＇s narrative form though they do not have the same philosophical premises as Borges＇s to support them. What underlies Borges＇s narrative complexity is his notion of the inaccessibili...
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| Published in | 复旦人文社会科学论丛：英文版 Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 649 - 669 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
2015
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This paper attempts to trace the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Ge Fei. It shows that Ge Fei＇s stories share Borges＇s narrative form though they do not have the same philosophical premises as Borges＇s to support them. What underlies Borges＇s narrative complexity is his notion of the inaccessibility of reality or divinity and his understanding of the human intellectual history as epistemological metaphors. While Borges＇s creation of narrative gap coincides with his intention of demonstrating the impossibility of the pursuit of knowledge and order, Ge Fei borrows this narrative technique from Borges to facilitate the inclusion of multiple motives and subject matters in one single story, which denotes various possible directions in which history, as well as story, may go. Borges prefers the Jungian concept of archetypal human actions and deeds, whereas Ge Fei tends to use the Freudian psychoanalysis to explore the laws governing human behaviors. But there is a perceivable connection between Ge Fei＇s rejection of linear history and traditional storyline with Borges＇ explication of epistemological uncertainty, hence the former＇s tremendous debt to the latter. Both writers have found the conventional narrative mode, which emphasizes the telling of a coherent story having a beginning, a middle, and an end, inadequate to convey their respective ideational intents. |
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| Bibliography: | This paper attempts to trace the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Ge Fei. It shows that Ge Fei＇s stories share Borges＇s narrative form though they do not have the same philosophical premises as Borges＇s to support them. What underlies Borges＇s narrative complexity is his notion of the inaccessibility of reality or divinity and his understanding of the human intellectual history as epistemological metaphors. While Borges＇s creation of narrative gap coincides with his intention of demonstrating the impossibility of the pursuit of knowledge and order, Ge Fei borrows this narrative technique from Borges to facilitate the inclusion of multiple motives and subject matters in one single story, which denotes various possible directions in which history, as well as story, may go. Borges prefers the Jungian concept of archetypal human actions and deeds, whereas Ge Fei tends to use the Freudian psychoanalysis to explore the laws governing human behaviors. But there is a perceivable connection between Ge Fei＇s rejection of linear history and traditional storyline with Borges＇ explication of epistemological uncertainty, hence the former＇s tremendous debt to the latter. Both writers have found the conventional narrative mode, which emphasizes the telling of a coherent story having a beginning, a middle, and an end, inadequate to convey their respective ideational intents. 31-2000/C Ge Fei - Jorge Luis Borges . Narrative gap . Narrative labyrinthFreudian psychoanalysis . Jungian archetypes |
| ISSN: | 1674-0750 2198-2600 |