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Fatalism and Ethical Paradoxes in Streams of Time

  • The Journal of Study on Language and Culture of Korea and China
  • Abbr : JSLCKC
  • 2026, (80), pp.235~257
  • DOI : 10.16874/jslckc.2026..80.009
  • Publisher : Korean Society of Study on Chinese Languge and Culture
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature
  • Received : April 10, 2026
  • Accepted : May 20, 2026
  • Published : May 31, 2026

Bong-Yeon Kim 1

1숭실대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a preliminary examination of Yan Lianke's novel Streams of Time (日光流年, 2004) through the lens of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. While existing scholarship has predominantly interpreted this work within the grammar of mythorealism (神實主義)—viewing it as a text that represents the violence and suffering of rural China—this study elucidates that the fatalistic condition of premature death transcends a mere allegory of specific historical contexts, emerging instead as a universal existential problem confronting finite human beings. The reverse chronological narrative structure adopted by the novel can be read as a literary embodiment of the Eternal Recurrence. This narrative, which regresses into the past with a predetermined conclusion, forces a visceral confrontation with the overwhelming weight of destiny, wherein all resistance is preordained to fail. Simultaneously, it acquires existential significance by demonstrating that repetition entails difference rather than mechanical identity. Furthermore, the attitude of the Sanxing Village inhabitants, who persistently resist despite recurrent failures, constitutes a praxis of Amor Fati. This is not a mere fatalistic resignation, but rather the manifestation of an active will that affirms life in its entirety, encompassing both its suffering and contradictions.

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