Preface

It is an honor and a pleasure to introduce this collection of Chinese translations of essays published in Narrative plus a few other important recent essays,and I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to Professor Tang Weisheng for all the work he has done to bring this collection into print.Thank you very very much,Professor Tang.

I find it especially appropriate that this collection is appearing so soon after the scholarly organization that sponsors the journal decided to change its name from the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature to the International Society for the Study of Narrative.The members voted to describe the Society as an "International" organization so that we could foreground the Society's mission of providing a network for narrative scholars from around the globe and so that we could more accurately describe the membership,since in recent years the number of members from outside the United States has increased significantly.These demographic changes have also been reflected in the contributions to the journal.In the last four years or so, Narrative has published work from scholars located in Australia,Canada,China,Denmark,England,Finland,Germany (including the essay by Greta Olson in this collection),Korea,and Israel as well as in the United States.This issue of Chinese translations signals another significant stage in the metamorphosis of the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature into the International Society for the Study of Narrative.

This issue also marks a significant milestone in the study of western narrative theory in China.Over the last twenty years or so,through the efforts of Professor Shen Dan of Peking University and a few other Chinese scholars,students in China have been able to learn a great deal about western narrative theory.Indeed,Shen Dan's own scholarship as well as her work in arranging the translation of several important books of the 1990s for publication by Peking University Press and in overseeing the translation of The Blackwell Companion to Narrative Theory have been crucial for the spread of western narrative theory in China.Having attended the 2007 Chinese Narratology Conference in Nanchang,I have seen first-hand how eager so many Chinese scholars are to enter into the kinds of conversations carried on in these essays,and I am,therefore,genuinely delighted that these translations will make these particular conversations more accessible to China's community of narrative theorists.I also look forward to the day when the exchange between China and the west becomes more of an equal partnership,more of a situation in which western narrative theorists have access to English translations of important books and essays in narrative theory by Chinese scholars.I believe that this translation series is moving us closer to that period of partnership.

James Phelan

Distinguished University Professor of English

Ohio State University

Editor, Narrative