Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2022

 

Texture of “National Epic and Metafiction”: An Interpretation of Xu Zechen’s Northward from the Perspective of Social History

(Abstract)

 

Chen Si

 

Examining Xu Zechen’s novel Northward from the perspective of social history can reveal that the novelist focused on the Chinese history between 1900 and 2014 to realize his four ambitions, forming a texture of “national epic and metafiction.” On the one hand, the novel puts forth effort on geographical conditions along the Grand Canal and historical details of late Qing dynasty that spans a relatively long period with a combination of realistic and imaginary descriptions. Thus, a historical sense of national epic has taken shape. On the other hand, the novel suggests readers that texts, serving as fictionality of “novel,” has formed a self-awareness of “metafiction,” allowing the historical sense to repeat itself between self-generation and self-dissociation.