What is the basic structure of this novel?

The plot of a novel is composed of specific plot units or narrative units. Different novel chapters have different plot units, thus forming different plot structure types, with different narrative characteristics and aesthetic functions. From the study of Chinese and foreign novel creation, we find that there are six basic types of novel plot structure, namely linear structure, network structure, picture structure, symbolic structure, realistic structure and prose structure. Below, let's analyze the narrative characteristics and aesthetic characteristics of these six plot structures.

Linear structure

Linear structure refers to the linear extension of all plot elements according to the natural order of time and the causal relationship of events, from the beginning to the end, from the beginning to the end, from the beginning to the end, from the beginning to the end, from the beginning to the end, and gradually developing. Although flashbacks, interludes and supplementary narratives occur from time to time, they do not change the linear pattern of the whole plot. Linear structure can be divided into single-line structure and double-line structure. According to the relationship between the plot lines, the double-line structure can be divided into three types: one is the main and auxiliary line type, that is, two or more plot clues are divided into primary and secondary and cross. The second is striding, that is, two or more plot clues are difficult to distinguish between primary and secondary, and cross * * *. The third is parallelism, that is, there are two plot clues that are difficult to distinguish between primary and secondary, but they do not cross, but are in a parallel state. The connection between the two clues is caused by some people or events. The linear structure of plot is generally linear in western novels, and its plot ending is often devastating.

However, in China's classical novels, most of them appear in the form of happy endings or hidden circles of regression. For example, the second time, the husband and wife reunited, experienced ups and downs, and finally got the result. Be the first, the dream will come true, or gather together, gather and disperse, combine and divide, divide and combine, flourish and decline, flourish and decline. Not only that, some novels also constitute a hidden multi-layer circle. For example, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Eastern Han Dynasty was divided into three parts-Wei, Shu and Wu, and the three parts were combined into one-the Western Jin Dynasty. In this narrative circle, the three parts are three, and the three parts are combined into one, including Wei, Shu and Wu from the beginning to the end, as well as Dong Zhuo and Wu, three mutually confronting and intersecting middle circles. It can be said that in the depths of China's classical novels, most of them run this "circle" which is not dangerous. This is because China people have formed the so-called circular thinking in their understanding and experience of the universe and life since ancient times, that is, they tend to think that the universe, society, history and life present a circular operation mechanism, and tend to pursue harmony between heaven and earth, between man and nature, and between man and the natural universe, while the aesthetic ideal of the corresponding narrative works is the artistic realm of transcendence and harmony.

3 reticular structure

Taking the mind of the character as the center and the consciousness and psychological activities of the character as the radiation line to form a plot, its structure is like a spider web, that is, a mesh structure. This is the basic plot structure form adopted by western stream-of-consciousness novels, and it is also adopted by the works called "psychological novels" in China's literary creation in the new period. The basic characteristics of the network plot structure of stream of consciousness novels and "psychological novels" are: 1. The object described in the novel is the flowing process of characters' psychological activities, including their thoughts, consciousness, memory, association, imagination, feelings, intuition, impressions, dreams and so on. 2. Writers break the time sequence and causal logic of traditional novels and combine materials by relying on the flow of character consciousness. 3. The author uses psychological analysis, monologue narration, sensory impression, hallucination, dreams and other means of expression to describe.

4 picture structure

The combination of picture plot units with scenery and scene as the main body is the picture structure. This kind of plot structure exists in a large number of traditional novels and modern novels, but its creative purpose, picture characteristics and specific combination methods are quite different. As far as the traditional picture structure is concerned, the author intends to express emotion and freehand brushwork through picture creation. As far as its picture composition is concerned, the story of characters is embedded in the picturesque natural environment and natural scenery, and the writer's interest in writing is not in the story, but in the space and environment where the story takes place; Writing characters' movements does not seek the dramatization of stage performance, but only the quiet charm. For example, the creation of Ling Shuhua, a famous writer in the history of modern novels in China, as Zhu Guangqian commented: "Adjust the number of words she needs with a hand that is good at conditioning Dan Qing." "The author writes novels like her paintings, using little ink, but the meaning is very meaningful." (1) The traditional picture structure, the connection between pictures, is a picture book, just as Zhu Guangqian's analysis of Fei Ming's novel Bridge: "Bridge is full of poetry and Zen, and every situation is interesting, so it can be independent without the realm written before and after. It's easy to feel that there is no obvious connection between chapters. The whole book is a kind of landscape picture book, turning page by page. Just as Shen Congwen once explained his novel Broken Rainbow: "My story gives people the impression that it is bound to be close to the integration of landscape painting. "Of course, in most traditional graphic novels, there is still a simple story that runs through the whole story. As a kind of' adhesive', the pages are glued together so as not to be messy and patchy. Modern picture structure novels mainly refer to "new novels" which were born in France in 1950s and 1960s.

As far as the purpose of creation is concerned, the "new novel" school believes that people should not be the center of novels, and the center of novels is "things", that is, things and forms, while "characters" are just "temporary props". Things are not dominated by human consciousness. Writers should not describe things from subjective feelings, but should truthfully record the objective world and modern people's activities in calm language. As far as the composition of the picture is concerned, the new novel only uses language to transform the scenery into a visual image like painting, so as to receive the same visual effect as looking at the painting; When writing people, thoughts and feelings are also filtered, leaving only some pictures. The relationship between pictures basically adopts the method of "montage" of movies, which of course makes the relationship between pictures meaningful, but it also makes the relationship between pictures vague and the overall intention of narration uncertain. So in this kind of works, readers often get pictures of "uncertain" and "uncertain" things.

5 symbol structure

Symbolic plot structure, that is, all plot units closely revolve around a metaphysical abstract concept-consciousness, viewpoint, thought and emotion, which is the core of the plot and the connecting clue between plot segments. Camus's The Outsider, Kafka's Metamorphosis, Heller's Castle, China's Northern Lights by Zhang Kangkang in the New Era, Deng Gang's Charming Sea, Wang Anyi's The Foundation of the Wall and Gao Xiaosheng's Fishing are all typical symbolic works. The artistic features of this novel with symbolic plot structure are as follows:

The symbolic meaning of 1. embodies all plot units and runs through the whole image system. Of course, most of these novels still have time clues of plot in appearance, but as far as the aesthetic value of novels is concerned, if we only understand them from the perspective of linear plot, the meaning of these novels will be lost or even gone.

2. Symbolic images are holistic and vivid. From the creative process, it is the symbolic meaning that condenses and runs through the image and plot, but from the finished product, it is the image and plot that imply and express the symbolic meaning. Therefore, while giving the novel symbolic meaning, the writer is still committed to the description of image integrity and vividness.

3. The plot process is concise and clear. Because the author pursues the perception of thought, not the appeal of the plot and the image itself, although the overall image has the characteristics of integrity and vividness, and the plot can be complete, the plot process must be concise and clear. The author avoids the legendary, dramatic and compact process of the event, omits the ins and outs of the event, abandons the intricacies of various interpersonal relationships, and even intentionally blurs the origin of the characters' names and the time and place of the event, so as to make the symbolic meaning stand out without being obscured by the plot branch.

4. Symbolic images have great deformability. Images in symbolic plot structures are generally greatly deformed, because only highly exaggerated and extremely deformed images are more symbolic and metaphysical.

6 realistic structure

Realistic structure is the plot structure used in "new realism" novels. Different from traditional realistic novels, "new realism" novels do not construct rigorous and exquisite plots and shape typical characters in typical environments, nor do they completely break the time plot like modernist novels, but organize narratives completely according to the flow and flashback of human consciousness. It focuses on the prototype of the object, that is, the original state and true colors of things and life (including spiritual or cultural phenomena). It is called "zero-degree emotional intervention" to reveal the true nature of human nature and fully understand life through ordinary and trivial details in life, while relatively diluting the social and historical background, political and ideological significance, and even restraining the author's subjective feelings. For example, Chi Li's A Troubled Life shows the life from 4 am to 1 1 in chronological order, just like restoring life to a "naked" state by artistic means. Through this original ecological life, it shows how troublesome this life is and how pitiful and pathetic the living conditions of ordinary people are. Starting from spontaneous and random ordinary events in people's lives, the novel shows people's needs and behaviors in life. Because of the emphasis on showing the original ecology of life, the plot structure of "new realism" novels is embodied as follows: the plot is not a precise and closed causal logic plot, but a loose and open life story. Real events and fantasy stories, rational thinking and irrational feelings, clear facts and vague impressions, true, good and beautiful things and false, evil and ugly phenomena will all emerge in the narrative process, making people seem to see life itself. However, this does not mean that "new realism" novels are absolutely realistic. Although Liang said that his realistic novel Father "has no fictional elements" (4), the author of the realistic novel Letter from the other shore also solemnly declared that this work "has no fiction, and it is my creed to study a lot of historical facts" (5). But in fact, any realistic work has fictional elements and will not be absolute realism. Absolute realism is impossible.

7 Prose structure

The characteristics of the plot structure of prose culture are as follows: first, the story plot is presented in the form of fragments of prose, just as the narrative of prose is a series of fragments, not a coherent story from beginning to end. Second, the form is scattered but the spirit is not scattered, that is, through the narrative of fragment events and the description of natural scenery and social customs, a vivid artistic conception is created and concrete subjective feelings are expressed. This seems to be the same as prose, but it is not. Most of the people described in prose are real, while those described in "prose" structure are fictional. In fact, the structure of "prose" adopts the plot form of prose, creating a fictional world. He Liwei's A Town Without Stories is a typical "prose" structure. The structure of "Prose" pursues nature and natural effect. For example, many of Wang Zengqi's novels mostly use flashback memories. The fragments of the past come from the past, long or short, thick or light, depending on the thoughts, and there is no trace of deliberate modification. Wang Zengqi once said that before the novel came into being, there was a natural form of the novel. As Song Ru said, without such a thing, there was its "natural principle" first. A novel cannot be lengthened or shortened at will. What Mr. Wang emphasizes is the kind of flowing water, which is natural and doesn't care about the plot structure of the axe.

8 Simple structure

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