Identity and Narrative: A Special Female Case of Chinese Ancient Autobiography

Abstract

Li Qingzhao (李清照,1084-1155) is one of the most excellent and most famous female scholars in Chinese literature history, whose Epilog to Records on Metal and Stone1 (Jin Shi Lu Houxu, 金石录后序), as a rare female autobiography in Chinese ancient literature, has made many unique creative contributions to the development of Chinese biographic literature. As a female autobiography, Epilog to Records on Metal and Stone has covered three identities of Li Qingzhao - a daughter of a noble family, a wife of a civil official and a female scholar - and the self-recognition of the three identities constitutes the triple female perspective of her autobiography. As a lament work, Epilog to Record on Metal and Stone has integrated three dimensional narration spaces - autobiographic facts, lament for her deceased husband; biographical facts, lament for her collected objects; and historical facts, lament for the perished country. The richness, appropriateness and exquisiteness of the discourse structure for three dimensional lament under a triple female perspective have made Epilog to Records on Metal and Stone a milestone in Chinese biographical history. It has not only filled the blank of female authors in ancient Chinese biography, but also provided a narrative spatial model of three dimensional interactions, laying the solid foundation for Li Qingzhao to be a landmark figure in Chinese biographic history.