Metafiction in Ge Fei’s Short Story “Flock of Brown Birds”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the narrative features of the short story Flock of Brown Birds (Hese Niaoqun, 1988) by the modern Chinese writer Ge Fei (born 1964), one of the key figures of the Chinese avant-garde literature of the late 20th century (xianfeng wenxue). The article provides an analysis of the narrative structure, composition and character system of the story. Main focus is on the elements of metafiction in the story, including addressing the topic of the fictional process, bringing the image of the narrator closer to the figure of the author, commenting on the process of creating a literary work (exposing the technique). For Ge Fei, reality is the text, and fictional process is an attempt to establish a connection with the elusive reality. In addition, the article also focuses on the fragmentation of the narrative, the use of an unreliable narrator, the non-linearity of the plot and the presence of gaps that invite the reader to participate in the creation of a literary work. Due to the identified features, Ge Fei’s fiction can be classified as the example of Chinese postmodern literature.

References

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