Abstract
This essay closely examines the (sub-)paratext and (sub-)paratextual narrative in We Three (《我们仨》) by Yang Jiang in an attempt to reveal the different roles (sub-)paratext and its narrative play in different places and its special functions in We Three. Following a theoretical discussion of paratext by Gerard Genette, the authors argue that (sub-)paratext and (sub-)paratextual narrative, whether subordinate or not, not only play a crucial role in the works like We Three, but also offer a crystal lens by which both the style and meaning of the text proper could be revealed in a different way. The effect and function of the (sub-)paratext in We Three lie in three aspects, namely, to tell more telling stories or add additional information, to complement the main narrative text, and/or to help reveal deep feelings and family ties with more stylistic variations. Indeed, a close examination into We Three reveals that the (sub-)paratext and the narrative embedded in the (sub-)paratext as typically seen in the three appendices of We Three turn out to be more important than the “text” and “textual narrative” proper even to the extent that the table turned at once, i.e. the text paratextualized and the paratext textualized. The change of the roles the textual narrative and paratextual narrative play, as best exemplified in Appendix One of We Three, in the final analysis, forms a unique narrative strategy in Yang Jiang’s autobiographic narrative in question.
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Notes
Genette’s poetics of transtextuality includes the following five elements: intertextuality, paratextuality, metatextuality, hypertextuality and architextuality (architexture) which he established in The Palimpsestes.
Genette (1991), p. 261.
Ibid.
Xu (2010, pp. 29–36).
For a more detailed discussion of categorization of paratext, cf. Xu (2010, p. 34).
For more discussions concerning the critical framework for paratextual narrative, cf. Xu (2010, pp. 34–35).
The marginal or preceding-page notes by the author are indeed everywhere in the book, which form sort of paratext within the paratext. The paratextual notes as such I prefer to call “subordinate paratext” which as a matter of fact has already constituted kind of subordinate paratextual narrative.
The English version of the above subordinate paratextual narrative goes: Notes on Qian Yuan in Her Sickness. She got cancer on her spine, which was in the final stage when she entered the hospital. But both Mom and Pop and she herself didn’t know the truth then. Her waist ached near the end of 1995 and went to see doctor; then in January 1996 was forced to live in the hospital for the disease. Due to the necrosis of a spine joint she didn’t feel the pain any more. Though thereafter she could only sleep right on the hard bed with too many visitors coming in and going out, she still spared time for working and reading. One day in October, she reminded me of the fact that I once said I’d like to write a work entitled “We Three”, and then begged me to let her write it instead. Of course I was too willing. To write while lying on bed is very difficult, but she seemed to enjoy doing so. In November when the hospital reported that she was in critical condition, she still cherished her chance of writing. I couldn’t bear to tell her the truth. On February 26, she finished the first five chapters. I then told her that to take care of herself in her sickness was now the most important thing, that there was no need to make efforts in writing any more. In view of her own exhaustion, she agreed with me and stopped writing thereafter. Five days later, she died in her deep sleep. Here follow excerpts of her manuscript and the Table-of-Contents page as well.
References
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Xu, D., Liang, D. Paratextual narrative and its functions in We Three . Neohelicon 43, 89–104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-016-0332-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-016-0332-2