Writing the Silenced Female Body, Scrutinizing the Grand Narrative of Colonization and Decolonization: The Body in Zoë Wicomb’s David’s Story

David’s Story by Zoë Wicomb addresses the complexities of representing female suffering and the limitations of traditional historical narratives in capturing the experiences of marginalized bodies.It challenges the grand narratives of national history by emphasizing the indispensable role of women’s experiences.Through characters like Dulcie and Rachael,Wicomb portrays the female body as a site of resistance and resilience,highlighting the need for more nuanced and inclusive ways of documenting history.Underscoring the inexpressibility of trauma and the limitations of language and representation,the novel self-reflexively acknowledges its own aporia of completing the narrative,embodying the ongoing struggle to capture the full breadth of human experience.

＂Historical Rewriting＂ and ＂Alternative Fairy Tales＂ in Contemporary Vietnamese Prose： Intertextuality or Incredulity Towards Grand Narratives

At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, Vietnamese literature witnessed unprecedented innovations in the aesthetic thinking of writers and the narrative structure of their works. One of the most interesting manifestations of this new movement was not merely the introduction of new aesthetic materials and factors, but the adoption and positive ＂reprocessing＂ of traditional factors---especially historical factors and folk narrative factors. Based on intertextual theory, we would like to address the strong penetration, reproduction, and transformation of some folk storytelling models and historical materials in Vietnamese literature since 1986. Two corresponding phenomena we examine are ＂historical rewriting＂ and ＂alternative fairy tales＂--as part of the whole process of incredulity towards grand narratives and postmodernism in the contemporary Vietnamese prose.

Exploration and Rethinking： Children-Voice Studies in China

This paper reviews children-voice studies in China's Mainland over the past 10 years in the context of the globalisation era. The traditional grand narrative in the field of contemporary education research in China has been challenged by individual recounts and by concemsregarding the situation in the classroom, which is reflected in the children-voice studies conducted by young researchers. The paper begins with background regarding society, culture, and schooling, continues on to describe related studies in this field, and ends with a rethinking of current research. The conclusion is that the studies were hampered both by an inherited culture of inertia and cynicism towards students＇ voices and by a dysfunction in research methodology.

New era writers： aesthetic choices and the generation gap

Since the 1990s, the generation gap among three important groups of writers born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s has become ever more evident. Not only do they show a tendency toward the weakening of grand narrative and sense of responsibility and the strengthening of individual aspirations, they also show different aesthetic traits in terms of narrative form. Some advocate a realist style, while others pursue modernist techniques or are enamored of fragmentary details. At the same time, each generation projects its own aesthetic ideas. From the viewpoint of cultural anthropology, this kind Of generation gap essentially implies the effect of the latent protocols of different historical-cultural contexts and memories of growing up on the human spirit. Although the generation gap is an expression of a plural cultural scene, the question of how to strengthen intellectual interaction between different generations of writers and effectively overcome the limitations of each generation remains an important aspect of the promotion of the healthy development of modern Chinese literature.

On the Innovation of Literary Theory in China

China＇s rise has increased concerns about innovation in China＇s indigenous literary theory. How to create theories with a ＂China style＂ and global influence has become a serious challenge for the development of contemporary Chinese literary theory. Three strategies are noteworthy in meeting this challenge. First, ＂amateurism in professionalism＂ can be used to offset the constraints of increasing disciplinization and professionalization in literary theory. Second, critical rationality needs to be cultivated among researchers and in institutional forms in order to alter the present lack of rational and vigorous debate, criticism and dialogue. Third, we need to reconstruct ＂grand narratives,＂ so as to make a unique contribution to the world in terms of universal values, meanings and ethics through transforming and advancing traditional Chinese thought.