Historical Reality, Fictional Narrative

With reference to Erving Goffman’s notion of “frame analysis” and Colin Counsell’s “framing signifiers,” this article explores how Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese-language Nobel laureate for literature, has represented the reality of contemporary China in his dramatic works. Focusing on two scenes in one of Gao’s early plays, The Other Shore, it aims to illustrate the way Gao uses the narrative technique of framing to inversely (un/re)frame the notions of China and Chineseness