Well Chronotope:The Spatial Narrative of Desert Trilogy
Wells are important ways not only for basic needs and social space for villagers to gather and live,but also a source of significant imageries in Chinese literature.The combination of time and space in the imagery of"well"can be regarded as a narrative mode based on the well's time and space,which can be termed as"the well chronotope".The spatial narrative centering on the well is common in Chinese local novels.Examples are Xuemo's Desert Trilogy where the well is the place where the story unfolds,the clue for plot development,the entrance through which readers peep into characters'hearts and the thread of the text's structure.In addition,each kind of well in Desert Trilogy expresses a specific theme,and the spatial and temporal depiction of wells is an important source of meaning in these three novels:the well in the village corresponds to the traditional rural civilization;the pit for mining corresponds to the modern industrial civilization;and the well in the desert is a metaphor of the life-death struggle of human beings in the resource crisis.Through the well chronotope,Xuemo shows the contradictions between man and nature,innovation and tradition,the countryside and the city in Western China,as well as the material and spiritual dilemma in Chinese peasants'life,recreating the picture of social life and historical changes.
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