Lives Unlived in “Such Common Life” by Yiyun Li
Lives unlived is a central theme in Yiyun Li’s fiction and is at the core of “Such Common Life,” a story published in her latest collection of short fiction, Wednesday’s Child (2023). This article analyzes how the form of the novella, which can be described as a long short story, serves the narrativ...
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| Опубликовано в: : | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jsse, |
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| Главный автор: | |
| Формат: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Язык: | Anglais |
| Опубликовано: |
Journal of the Short Story in English
2024
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| Online-ссылка: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Итог: | Lives unlived is a central theme in Yiyun Li’s fiction and is at the core of “Such Common Life,” a story published in her latest collection of short fiction, Wednesday’s Child (2023). This article analyzes how the form of the novella, which can be described as a long short story, serves the narrative purpose of reflecting on the paths not taken and what that means to a character as the closure of her life is in sight. This is achieved through a slow narrative rhythm and a dialectic relation between the two main characters, the younger one, a Chinese immigrant, acting as counterpoint to the elderly woman who is her charge. They alternately seem to be very different and to have a lot in common, and the occasional mirror effect between them brings out new revelations. |
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