'Double' in traditional Chinese fantastic fictions.

摘要

Although the theme of double has been widely explored in Western fantastic fictions, few academic efforts have been devoted to this theme in its Chinese parallel. This becomes astonishing especially when we consider the existence of the voluminous amount of fantastic fictions containing the theme of double in Chinese literary history.; As a recurrent theme in Chinese fantastic fictions ranging from Six Dynasties to later imperial period, double has demonstrated its own specific features. Through the analysis of the double in representative literary texts, this essay attempts to categorize different kinds of the double on the basis of their characteristics, unveil the undercurrents behind the double, and explore the recurrent pattern in this constellation of double and the interplay between the double and self in order to contribute to our better understanding of this phenomenon and the scholarship in Chinese fantastic fictions.