Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2023

 

The Evolution of Structural Art in Fan Wen’s Novels

(Abstract)

 

Song Jiahong

 

Fan Wen has published a total of seven novels with rich and diverse structural forms, constituting an important part of contemporary Chinese novels. Harmonious Land forms an “enclosed” structure with a time span of up to a hundred years, which is similar to building a dam over a broad river whose construction starts from both banks and finalizes in the midstream. My Blood, My Land displays an “unfolded” structure starting from the 1950s (the middle) and spreading towards both chronicle ends. The Eye of Chongqing interweaves clues of one highlighted narrative unit with the remaining narrative content, forming the artistic integrity of the novel. The most recent The Turn of the Sun retreats to a simple linear structure.