Cultural Anthropological Narratology: Culture as the Logic of Narrative Organization (A Case Study of Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương by Lý Lan)

Abstract

 Narrative studies have gradually shifted into the postclassical phase, characterized by a wide range of interdisciplinary approaches. Cultural anthropological narratology represents a convergence between narratology and cultural anthropology. From this perspective, the present article examines cultural anthropological narratology in Lý Lan’s novel Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương. The findings indicate that anthropological narrativity in the work manifests as a form of cultural practice, in which a narrative community is collectively constituted to articulate the worldview and cultural style of Southern Vietnamese people. At the same time, cultural anthropology functions as the meaning-generating logic of the narrative, as narratological devices such as the narrator, narrative structure, and narrative language operate not merely as technical means but are interwoven as aesthetic strategies of the implied author to reconstruct cultural discourses within the text. This anthropological approach to the study of Southern Vietnamese cultural style, combined with an analysis of narrative structure, contributes to identifying and strengthening issues in both theoretical reflection and methodological practice in postclassical narratology in Vietnam.