Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2025

The Realistic Depiction and Historical Consciousness in Tiger Tiger

(Abstract)

Shen Zuxin

Li Xiuwen’s literary works show a profound concern for the vulnerable, inheriting and evolving legends to depict a distinct reality—a brand new world. Carrying forward his literary core, his new novel Tiger Tiger is deeply rooted in the modern literary tradition of “metamorphosis.” It focuses on the critical experiences of the marginalized while recreating the legendary writing of the reality through the “distinct” human existence, and using this as a medium to confront the existential and historical predicaments faced by the vulnerable. The novel concludes with a lyrical benediction, aiding the vulnerable to break historical constraints, and evolves to a redemption of their fate through nature’s erasure of history. Finally, it employs the equivalent construction of history and life to embody the “lengthiness” of the 1990s and the “inability to end” modernity.