Transcending Death by Telling Stories: On the Dead Narration in Yu Hua’s The Seventh Day

Abstract

In the history of literature, the traditional narration of the dead is mainly characterized by the connection of “yin”(dead) and “yang”(alive) when the dead people return to the living world, there is no lack of the enlightenment of punishing evil and promoting good, and supporting justice. However the narration of the dead in Yu Hua's novel The Seventh Day is different from the tradition, which is emphasize the incoherence of yin and yang, reflecting the heavy realistic meaning. Starting from the tradition of literary history, this paper combs the development of the narration of the dead, studies the characteristics of the narration of the dead in Yu Hua's The Seventh Day, and compares it with the traditional narration of the dead, and then deeply explores the profound values behind Yu Hua's transformation of the narration of the dead.