Narrative Devices in the Shiji

Lei Yang teaches Chinese literature and culture at Carleton College.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Turn to Textual Unity2. Temporal Order: Weaving a Synthesized Causality3. Narrative Speed: Elaborating Stairs Ascending to Power4. Multiple Points of View: Illuminating Desires and DynamicsConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

"Yang Lei's book is a highly innovative contribution to Shiji studies. Nobody has so far approached the literary techniques which Sima Qian relied on with such a sharp eye." — Monumenta Serica"this interdisciplinary research opens a new path for studying other early historical texts. While Yang acknowledges unresolved questions—such as the rise of the biographical tradition and how the Shiji's narratives influenced later generations—this breakthrough nonetheless deserves significant attention from both scholars and general readers. It demonstrates that the study of early Chinese literature and history can be expanded into a new and innovative dimension." — Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews"This book is a must-read for both students of early Chinese empires and Chinese literature. In addition to revising the common understanding of early Chinese historiography, it significantly contributes to the history of books in the Chinese context. The author brilliantly shows how Sima Qian's work revolutionized the transmission of historical knowledge, employing various rhetorical and structural devices to transform the laundry list of historical facts in annals into a coherent narrative. As the book powerfully demonstrates, Sima Qian's work imposed a new structure on raw materials, which indicates that authorship emerged and a closed text appeared for the first time in Chinese history." — Liang Cai, author of Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire