Biwu Shang - Unnatural Narrative Across Borders: Transnational and Comparative Perspectives

This book is not possible without the support of many institutions and individuals.

I am deeply indebted to the staff and fellows at the National Humanities Center. The nine-month fellowship enables me to concentrate on my work and devote my full energies to developing this project. This book is hard evidence of my rewarding experience working with the fellows of the class of 2015.

I feel very grateful to my colleagues and students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is their enthusiasm and passion for academics that enable me to endure the failing moments. They are Quansheng Hu, Kaibao Hu, Yuzhen Lin, Jie Wu, Kun Su, Cheng Li, Yili Tang, Yafei Li, Xiaomeng Wan, Yuying Chu, Ziwei Fang, and Zheng Xin.

My gratitude also goes to those who have invited me to present drafts of my work, who have read some parts of the manuscripts, and who have exchanged their ideas with me on many occasions. They are Jim Phelan, Brian McHale, Robyn Warhol, Gerald Prince, Ansgar Nnning, Vera Nnning, Susan Stanford Friedman, Idit Alphandary, Pter Hajdu, Thomas O. Beebee, Youngmin Kim, and Zhenzhao Nie.

As always, I want to thank Angel and Coco, who have brightened and enriched my life. I owe it all to them.

Although no chapter in this book is a simple reprint of a previously published article, most chapters are based on the materials that appeared in some journals. I am grateful for the permission to reprint.

contains material from Unnatural Narratology: Core Issues and Critical Debates, Journal of Literary Semantics , 44.2 (2015): 169194.

from Toward a Comparative Narratology: A Chinese Perspective, Comparative Literature Studies , 54.1 (2017): 5269.

from Unnatural Narratives in Contemporary Chinese Time Travel Fiction: Patterns, Values, and Interpretive Options, Neohelicon , 43.1 (June 2016): 725.

from Unnatural Narratology and Zhiguai Tales of the Six Dynasties in China, Neohelicon 45.1 (2018): 179190.

from Delving into Impossible Storyworlds: The Unnaturalness of Hassan Blasims Short Narrative Fiction, arcadia: International Journal of Literary Culture , 52.1 (2017): 183200.

from Unnatural Emotions in Contemporary Narrative Fiction, Neohelicon 45.2 (2018): 445459.

The work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (Grant Number: 17ZDA281), for which I feel very grateful.

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