2021 International Conference on Education, Humanity and Language, Art (EHLA 2021) ISBN: 978-1-60595-137-9 The Analysis of Narrative Expression Forms in Contemporary Chinese Novels Yi-duo BIAN1,a,* 1College of Foreign Languages, Zhaotong University, Zhaotong, Yunnan, China [email protected] *corresponding author Keywords: Novel, Narrative framework, Embedded narrative, Experiential. Abstract. As an important part of literary form, novels have a wide audience. Novels play an important role in recording and reflecting the changes of history, society and people's spiritual consciousness. The novel has various forms of expression, and its narrative methods and techniques have been fully developed. Through the interpretation of the narrative expression of the novel, we can find that: with the development of the times, the change of social background, the change of people's spiritual ideology, the expression forms and methods of the novel also show diversity. Mining and refining the epitome of historical development from novels also reflects its importance as a literary carrier. 1. Introduction From the process of the history of human civilization, history needs to be recorded, analyzed and inherited. History and culture are the roots of a nation. Any nation has its own specific development history, which is closely related to its development background. There are many ways to record history, such as general history, chronological history, thematic history, character history, memoir, painting, physical preservation, image recording, etc. As a carrier, literary works have played an important role and occupied an important position in thousands of years of historical development. Literary works are not only recorders of history, but also living fossils of studying history. Literary works are all inclusive and have many genres, such as poetry, prose, novel, drama, etc. This paper focuses on the analysis of the narrative form of the novel and explores its important role in the historical mapping. Chinese contemporary novels have experienced more than 70 years of development, which profoundly reflects the vigorous development history of new China, deeply imprints the development characteristics of each historical stage, and reflects the process of social and human activities. Since the founding of the people's Republic of China in 1949, contemporary novels have gone through three main stages of development: the 17th year of the founding of the people's Republic of China (1949-1966), the 10th year of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and the new period (1976-). The novels of the seventeen years since the founding of the people's Republic of China focus on the historical theme of revolutionary struggle. The establishment of new China makes the Chinese people stand up in the world, a large number of historical novels about revolutionary struggle emerge, artistically reproduce the hardship of revolutionary struggle and the indomitable revolutionary spirit of the Chinese people, and sincerely praise the new life of the new society. The novel creation in the ten years of the Cultural Revolution gave birth to the creative power for the development of new literature. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC in 1978, novels in this period have flourished. There are a wide range of novel themes in the new period, including scar novels, reflective novels, root seeking novels, female novels, new generation novels and so on[1]. Foreign novels focus on the expression of individual independent thinking of the world, not only pay attention to the form but also to the metaphysical thinking. Foreign novels focus on open style, especially on psychological description and scene description. In the technique of expression, it 103 pays attention to the exploration of the technique of expression and the design of the narrative structure. For example, the way of film is introduced into novels, and the performance style of drama is also reflected in novels. Chinese contemporary novels also have some reference to the above writing techniques. No matter short stories, novellas or novels, they all show the reflection on history, the reflection on society and the presentation of people's mental state. At the same time, based on the affirmation of history and culture, the writer has his own unique understanding of history, society and people. Therefore, the narrative forms of novels have their own differences and characteristics. 2. Embedded Narrative Framework[2] In literary works, because the novel is not limited to length, it can depict events, characters, set more abundant plots, and put the novel in the relevant historical background. The narrative frame method is derived from human communication. The purpose of narration is to pursue "unity, symmetry and integrity", and the novel itself also pursues the integrity of narration and the embodiment of events. A novel contains a number of events, which are interrelated, so there are different levels of narrative. The narrative framework is embedded with related characters and the scenes are constantly changing, which constitutes a rich embedded narrative framework. Compared with other literary forms, novels are more complex and coherent, especially novels, with many characters, events, clues, and numerous changes in characters and situations. The development trend of modern novels is not only complete plot, but also changeable. It is mainly reflected in breaking the sequence structure of the plot, abandoning the single method of the narrator to describe the story completely, and using various techniques to describe the plot from different angles. Some writers use the "stream of consciousness" creation technique when constructing the framework of the novel, which is reflected in the crisscross of time and space, the past, the present and the future, the disorder, the atmosphere of the times, the place of characters and the specific environment. After reading through the novel, we will find that this kind of crisscross narrative framework level is reversed, and the relationship between the characters in the final novel is consistent with the causal relationship and the relationship between events The vein is clear and complete. The works of Ma Yuan, a contemporary Chinese writer, are just like this. Ma Yuan is a famous avant-garde writer in contemporary China and plays an important role in the history of contemporary literature. From 1982 to 1989, Ma Yuan worked as a reporter and editor in Tibet. It was during this period that Ma Yuan provided abundant materials for his novel creation. Ma Yuan's "narrative trap" created the "form as the content" in Chinese Fiction Circle, which has an important influence in the history of contemporary literature. The main works include the short stories "goddess of Lhasa River", "three ways of folding paper harriers", "three times of Lhasa life", "ancient hymalaya song", "walls covered with strange patterns", etc.; the novella "temptation of Gangdise", "no sailboat in the West Sea", "fiction", etc.; the novels "ghosts and snakes", "entanglement", etc. Ma Yuan's novel is a bold attempt and innovation in the form of creation, absorbing the skills of western modernism, especially the influence of structuralism. Ma Yuan's novels decompose the narrative level structure and interlace the relationship between time and space. In the early stage of reading, there will be a sense of incomprehension and loss. But when the narrative of the novel reaches the end, it will suddenly become clear that the relationship between time and space will be arranged in the order of the story, and the integrity of the novel will be reflected. Ma Yuan's narrative features and techniques are of experimental significance. In the narrative level structure, a new narrative method is innovated, which highlights the essence of narrative. The narration proposed by Czech narrator Jiri keten embodies the cognitive method of the world. The novel usually unfolds the plot and portrays the characters through the concrete description of the typical environment. The specific environment of the characters' life can show the characters' identity, sentiment and character, and indirectly reflect the background of the novel. Novels often show the characters' personality and mental outlook by showing their unique environment[3]. 104 The three basic features of the novel are not isolated, but closely related. In order to depict the characters in a rich and detailed way, it is necessary to fully unfold the plot. Therefore, it is particularly important to set the level of narrative structure. Dutch literary theorist and narrator Mick Barr divides embedded narrative into two categories. One is that only the narrator transfers, but the status of narrative noumenon does not. The other is that the narrator and the status of narrative noumenon transfer at the same time. On the basis of Barr's theory, American independent scholar Mary Laura Ryan puts forward the perspective level. On the basis of frame narrative and embedded narrative, embedded narrative and frame structure narrative system may be the same or different. According to the narrator's point of view, the narrative structure in the novel can be divided into three levels: the third person's point of view; the first person's point of view; and the multi person's point of view. In the transformation of frame narrative and embedded narrative, there are many kinds of transfer combinations among narrator, observation perspective and ontological