This study aims to analyze the narrative characteristics of tanci (彈詞) created by female authors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Unlike traditional tanci as a performing art, female authors' tanci works constitute a distinct genre created for ...
This study aims to analyze the narrative characteristics of tanci (彈詞) created by female authors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Unlike traditional tanci as a performing art, female authors' tanci works constitute a distinct genre created for personal reading. This characteristic stems from the female authors' social status and the cultural and social constraints of their time. Consequently, their works exhibit remarkable originality in literary quality and inner expression. Subsequently, this study conducted an in-depth analysis of the narrative strategies in female tanci works from four major perspectives, centered on narratology theory.
First, this study discusses the multiple narrative voices present in female authors' tanci works. Specifically, it examines how female authors reveal their gendered, unique narrative perspectives through the narrative text. This section primarily unfolds around two aspects. First, it systematically analyzes the narrative characteristics of the autobiographical writings found in female authors' Tanci works. These scattered accounts of daily life and creative reflections within the text are distinct from the original narrative text and perform different narrative functions than the main narrative body.
Next, this study examines in detail the narrative spaces appearing in the works of the female author Tanci. That is, the unique narrative perspective constructed by Tanci's works forms special narrative spaces within them. This narrative space is broadly divided into two types. One type consists of independent descriptions of physical spaces within the text, such as the main hall, bedroom, and study. Through these, distinct static spaces are formed, closely linked to the female protagonist's acts of disguise, representing shifts in power and its manifestations. The other type is a space that reveals a dual narrative flow arising from the character's identity change after disguise, through descriptions of moving spaces. This simultaneously presents the character's complex inner psychological activities.
The second part aims to examine the most frequently appearing narrative feature in female authors' tanci works, specifically the common narrative of female authors' tan-sa works. First, the ‘disguise’ narrative is taken as the subject of analysis. ‘Disguise’ is a motif frequently appearing in ancient Chinese vernacular literature, with traces already visible in historical records from the pre-Qing period. It was subsequently widely utilized across vernacular literary works and Qing Dynasty performing arts. Such disguises are primarily divided into two types: “cross-dressing as a man” and “cross-dressing as a woman.” This paper first briefly examines the various ways disguise is employed in different literary works. It then discusses how the disguise narratives found in early literary works influenced the formation of the ‘disguise’ narrative in the works of the female writer.
The second part of this analysis focuses on the narrative functions and characteristics of “cross-dressing” and ‘disguise’ in the works of female author Tanci. In their works, the “cross-dressing” narrative inherits the structure of Qing Dynasty scholar-gentry fiction while developing it into the ‘core event’ driving the plot. That is, the narrative centers on the female protagonist's disguise, driving the entire story's progression. In this process, the female author depicts the disguise in a more profound and comprehensive manner. This disguise transcends a temporary plot device; it continuously operates throughout the female protagonist's diverse actions, thereby acquiring richer narrative significance. This meaning becomes even more evident in Tanci's works through the depiction of ‘private affairs’ (私情). In contrast, “cross-dressing” primarily serves a narrative function as a ‘secondary incident’. Male characters' cross-dressing acts generally appear alongside female characters' male disguises and do not form the main narrative axis of the story. Their disguises function as subsidiary elements to the “cross-dressing” narrative, or sometimes the disguise narrative unfolds in more covert ways. Furthermore, within this structure, the “cultivation” narrative, which appears universally in female author Tanci's works, also functions as a device expressing the moral values and ideals pursued by the female author through a religiousized narrative style.
The final section discusses the religious narrative mechanisms present in the works of the female author . While the narrative mechanism of “karma and reincarnation” frequently appears in various literary works of the Qing Dynasty, in Tanci's works, this karma-reincarnation narrative is understood not as being employed to reveal specific religious doctrines, but rather as being utilized at the level of narrative structure to emphasize the function of moral edification.
Therefore, female writers did not seek to directly advocate feminist liberation through innovative narrative techniques in their texts. Rather, they aimed to compensate for the moral deficiencies evident in their own works and the narratives of their characters through these religious narrative expressions. In this process, the individual worldviews and moral orientations of the female writers themselves are revealed through the narratives. Furthermore, female authors' tanka works exhibit distinct narrative patterns and characteristics that set them apart from other Qing Dynasty works. These features are not confined to individual pieces but recur as a narrative pattern across multiple works. This recurrence, alongside the unique nature of narrative writing in Qing female authors' tanka, clearly demonstrates the distinctive creative ideals formed by female authors within the writing environment of their time.