| Abstract |
This research suggests a different angle of viewing Zhang Dai’s famous prose The Middle of Seventh Month on West Lake/Harvest Moon on West Lake. Firstly, the scenes depicted in this article are not corresponding with the tradition of Summer Lantern Festival at Hangchow in Ming era. Secondly, in the article, indeed, Zhang Dai clearly states the background is the night of Moon Festival in eighth month. Thirdly, using ‘The Middle of Seventh Month’ in the title which differ from the season portrayed in the article is a way to create the sense of absurdity to imply that ‘we ’, the narrator in the prose, is not the actual Zhang Dai himself. Fourthly, the ‘we’ is a collective consciousness that Zhang Dai regards himself as one of the souls of West Lake, to describe the thriving and flourishing of West Lake as a proprietor. Moreover, speaking as a soul is to express the agonies of losing his nation that death might be preferable to him at that time. Sixthly, adopting this abnormal narrator arrangement may be a result of being influenced by South Song Dynasty writer Zheng Si Xiao’s Drawing the Orchid Without Dust.
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