This paper investigates the rise and fall of storytelling as a narrative approach in Zhang Ailing's novel writing career with reference to the theme of memory. Through examining the transformation of her works from storytelling to novels, it provides an in-depth analysis of the interrelationship between memory and hisory.In this paper, Zhang Ailing's novels are classified into different stages according to their rime and location of creation.Such a study is significant because it affirms that the categorization method employed can effectively indicate her chande in writing style. Besides the elements of time and place, it is hoped that another approach of categorization can be identified, which may even better highlight the features of Zhang Ailing's novels at different periods.
The paper first starts with an examination of Zhang Ailing's early novels from Aloeswood Incense ─ the First Brazie (Chenxiang xie ─ Di yi lu xiang〈沉香屑─第一香爐〉) to The Red Rose and the White Rose (Hong meigui yu bai meigui〈紅玫瑰與白玫瑰〉). Emphasis is put on investigating the sudden transformation of memory and the declining role of storytelling in her works. It also corroborate Walter Benjamin's claim that storytelling fades away due to the poverty of 'Erfahrung' in modern society. The second part of the paper focuses on Zhang Ailing's intermediate series and investigates how memory transforms itself from Eighteen Springs(Shiba chun《十八春》) to Naked Earth (Chidi zhi lian《赤地之戀》). The last part presents the idea of 'shock' portrayed in Zhang Ailing's late novels. Walter Ben-jamin's analysis of Prousts' 'memoire involontaire' and 'memoire volontaire' has been applied for inter-pretation, which sheds light on the correlation between her radical chang of writing style and memory.