Non-traditional Narrative in Yu Dafu's "Sinking" from an Existentialist Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71222/ythxgw36Keywords:
Yu Dafu, Chinese literature, narratology, existentialism, May Fourth Movement literatureAbstract
Yu Dafu rose to fame in the literary world through his bold self-exposure in narration. His masterpiece, Sinking, possesses both the individualism of the Japanese "I-novel" (Shishōsetsu) and intense patriotic enthusiasm. Since its publication, Yu Dafu's fiction has been the subject of constant controversy. Experts at home and abroad have attempted to interpret it from various perspectives, such as narrative artistic features, narrative techniques, and the influence of foreign writers' trends of thought, achieving significant results. However, there is a scarcity of research in the academic community that attempts to analyze Yu Dafu's fiction from the angle of the writer's creative philosophy, representing a missing perspective in literary criticism. This paper attempts to cut in from an existentialist perspective, using Sinking as an example to re-interpret Yu Dafu's fiction. Switching the philosophical perspective not only helps the academic community better interpret his works but is also of great assistance in understanding and grasping the author's inner world, which is conducive to analyzing his unique creative thoughts.
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