Analysis of the Characterization of the Old Man in“The Law of Life”from the Narrative Perspective

“The Law of Life”is one of Jack London’s representative works,depicting the story of an elderly Native American abandoned by his family,alone and waiting for life to fade away.This paper,based on narrative theory,aims to explore how the author employs narrative techniques to present the image of the old man in the short story.The narrative techniques of dual focalization and dual narrative timelines in the text demonstrate the abandonment of the old man’s homeland and his inescapable death under a naturalistic view of life and reflect a desolate life picture of resignation towards death under naturalistic determinism,depicting a grim elderly world under the naturalistic concept of“survival of the fittest.”Studying this short story helps us reflect on the living conditions of the elderly and provides insights into how to better care for the elderly population amid the global trend of aging.

A Study of the Time Narrative in Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This paper aims to provide new research perspective and highlight the importance of time in a novel.The paper first generally summarizes the research on the novel home and abroad.It goes on to describe the curious time in the novel and analyze the effect.Then,in light of Geneard Genette’s theory,the paper analyzes the time duration and the effects.It points out that the narration of time contributes to reinforcing the theme and the adjustment of the narrative rhythm.

On Chinese Cultural Subjectivity Regarding Exemplary and Narrative Language: Based on Ricoeur’s Research of Narrative

Exemplary language can,on the one hand,assist a listener to understand what a speaker intends to express,and,on the other hand,provoke a kind of practical force to the listener.Exemplary language is everywhere in our daily life,such as the bedtime stories told by a mother to her child,literary works,and judicial precedents.Many Western philosophers have expounded on this type of language.Exemplary language has become a topic for philosophical discussions.In Chinese classics,there are many expressions using exemplary language,but in different forms.Was there any philosophical reflection on these exemplary languages?The differences between the Chinese and the Western exemplary language initiate our discussion about the different subjectivity of exemplary language,or narrative subjectivity,for narrative will be discussed in this article as an extraordinary exemplary language.As a kind of exemplary language,narrative is analyzed by Ricoeur into two elements:time and meaning.Is his analysis also valid for Chinese narrative language?Can we discuss the difference of narrative subjectivity according to these two elements?The author is going to trace the origins of different subjectivity by analyzing distinct ways of creating characters/words which determinate different language forms in Chinese and the Western culture.The author finds that“linear time”(or objective time)still plays a significant role in the Western culture;by contrast,subjective time seems more dominant in Chinese culture.This also determines the narrative time for Chinese.As for the meaning,there are different purposes and ways of using narrative in Chinese culture and the Western culture,which are reflected,for example,in the different purposes of the Chinese and Western drama.This article aims to explore Chinese narrative subjectivity based on Ricoeur’s research of narrative.

Food Nostalgia and the Contested Time

In this article, I examine several narratives that express nostalgia through the food of Nanjing, especially those representing the famous halal （qingzhen 清真） restaurant Ma Xiangxing 马祥兴 in order to investigate how narrative time can be manipulated in order to variously position and frame history. After outlining the context of prevalent cultural nostalgia in contemporary China, I begin with a publicity narrative generated by Ma Xiangxing. I then move on to literary representations by authors such as Wu Jingzi 吴敬梓, Huang Shang 黄裳, and Ye Zhaoyan 叶兆言. Finally, I look at ＂Nanjing 1912,＂ a high-end shopping and entertainment district that attempts to invoke the Republican era in order to attract consumers. As food nostalgia evolved from a rebellion against modernity to a marketing strategy in China, it has generated narratives that embody a mix of restorative and reflective nostalgia. A linear narration of history and tradition coexists with a circular narration that challenges its accuracy; thus, not only does originality eventually become a meaningless concept, but simulation also precedes and creates reality in the general commercialization of nostalgia in post-reform

Construing time as blank signs in Waiting for Godot

Story time and narrative time are two interrelated issues in the research of drama.In Waiting for Godot,mere explorations in the perplexing systems of story time cannot pin down the signifieds of time,while incontiguity and quiescency of narrative time highlight the theme“Existence of time is meaningless”.The contradictory and paradoxical co-existence of story time and narrative time contributes to the construing“the void of ambiguous signifieds”and“the void of ambiguous signifiers”of time as blank signs.