贝尔斯《左宗棠：旧中国的军事家和政治家传》叙事时间研究
A Study on Narrative Time in Bale’s Tso Tsungt’ang, Soldier and Statesman of Old China

贝尔斯的《左宗棠传》作为外国学者所写的中国历史名人传记，是一本视角独特的中国现代史。本文基于叙事学理论，从时序、时距、频率三个维度分析该作品在叙事时间方面的叙事结构和叙事特征，以期加深国内学者掌握西方叙事作品表达规律，为跨文本跨文化交流提供借鉴，并丰富和完善叙事学的研究品类。研究发现，该传记在时序上采用以自然时序为主的连贯叙事，以重大历史事件为主要发展脉络，以事功划分人物履历，中西叙事特色兼备；在时距上以概述、停顿为主，凸显了作者力求简洁、深中肯綮的叙事特点和张弛有度的叙事节奏把控能力；在频率上以单一叙事、重复叙述为主，在专注重大事件的同时关注体现传主丰富、复杂、多样的人性和思想的小事，使人与事融为一体。
Tso Tsungt’ang, Soldier and Statesman of Old China, written by foreign scholar William Leslie Bales, is a unique perspective on modern Chinese history through the biography of a renowned historical figure. Based on the narratology, this paper analyzes the narrative structure and characteristics of the work in terms of narrative time from three dimensions: order, duration, and frequency, which aims to deepen domestic scholars’ understanding of the expressive patterns of western narrative works, provide insights for cross-textual and cross-cultural communication, and improve the research genres of narratology. It is found that the text adopts a coherent narrative based on natural chronology in the order, with major historical events as the main development sequence and achievements used to outline the protagonist’s life journey, exhibiting both Chinese and Western narrative characteristics. In terms of duration, it primarily utilizes summary and pause, highlighting the author’s pursuit of concise and insightful narrative features as well as his mastery of a balanced narrative rhythm. Regarding frequency, it relies mainly on singulative and repeating narrative, focusing on significant events while also attending to minor details that reveal the protagonist’s rich, complex, and diverse humanity and thoughts, seamlessly integrating the person and events.