Introduction Narrative And Space:A Cartography Of History

This is the introductory chapter of the book, which examines 'historical fiction', a genre so well established that the nomenclature has become a perpetual paradox of the factual/ fictive, objective/subjective, collective/individual, and so forth. A brief introduction to the basic concepts of fiction and history in the Chinese context seems mandatory and beneficial. The shift from major sociopolitical events to obscure psycholinguistic experience is concurrent with a turn from diachronic historiography to synchronic historiography. The author investigates how writers of Deng Xiaoping?s reform era undermined the grand narrative of official history by remapping China?s past. It showcases a fictional cartography of history by eleven contemporary Chinese authors, namely, Han Shaogong, Mo Yan, Wang Anyi, Zhang Chengzhi, Tashi Dawa, Alai, Ge Fei, Su Tong, Wang Shuo, Liu Heng, and Yu Hua. The chapter presents an overview of other chapters of the book are organised.Keywords: Deng Xiaoping; fictional cartography; historiography