Factual Framing in Liao Zhai Zhi Yi
Factual Framing in Liao Zhai Zhi Yi

Summary/Abstract: Pu Songling (1640-1715) and other agents frame many of the stories in his Liao zhai zhi yi (Strange Tales from Make-do Studio) as credible accounts of something that has actually happened. Pu sometimes acts as an extradiegetic narrator, sometimes as a heterodiegetic narrator. Many of his stories have metatextual commentaries. Examination of these narrators and comments provides convincing evidence that Pu often actually believed that many of these stories recount events that had actually occurred. Some of the stories are obvious legends, others are presented by real people, or are attested to by witnesses or other corroborating evidence. Given our understanding of the fact that many of the stories are narratives other people tell to Pu, one can also understand the genesis of many of them as unintentional fictions.

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