时间在格非创作中占据着重要的位置。作为以文体自觉和叙事革命为特点而登上文学舞台的作家，时间是格非在形式探寻、文体实验、叙事探索的重要路标，也是思考小说与现实、虚构与叙事、历史与叙述等问题必不可少的支点。“江南三部曲”（《人面桃花》《山河入梦》《春尽江南》）的创作历经十余年，是格非从先锋主义向现实主义的转型的重要之作。“江南三部曲”通过意象的时间化、叙事时间的结构以及时间性主题的表现，探究了时间本体的质地以及时间向度的问题，指向对中国当代社会人文精神和时代精神的思考。论文为三章：

第一章聚焦分析“江南三部曲中的”意象时间化。首先，从自然维度和社会维度探讨了自然与节日意象所体现的宇宙整体时间观。其次，通过生死意象与梦意象的书写，表现了生命经验中独特的时间体验。

第二章从叙事策略的角度分析“江南三部曲”中的时间书写。首先，梳理了编年时间、世代时间和纪传时间三个叙述层次，表现了历史书写中时间的顺序性；其次，通过缀段叙事和循环叙事分析了时间的倒错性；最后，分析了叙事结构下体现的时间结构的统一性。

第三章从“江南三部曲”中时间性主题的角度展开解读。一是“伤春”这一显性时间性主题表现的生命有限的时间忧患。二是“桃源”这一隐性时间性主题所探讨的现代革命与“名垂青史”的两条解决时间忧患的路径。从而得出时间性主题最终指向的时间向度，即“返古”和“归乡”。

结语部分总结了格非“江南三部曲”中时间本体的质地以及时间叙事指向的中国当代社会人文精神和时代精神的问题。“江南三部曲”标示着格非自八十年代创作至今以来时间观和创作观的成熟，体现了其知识分子写作的立场，以及对“世界”体系下汉语写作及“建立现代中国文学的主体性”的思考与实践。

Time occupies an important place in Ge Fei's work. As a writer who has entered the literary arena with a genre consciousness and a narrative revolution, time is an important signpost in Ge Fei's formal search, genre experimentation and narrative exploration, as well as an essential fulcrum for thinking about fiction and reality, fiction and narrative, history and narrative. The  "Jiangnan Trilogy", which took more than ten years to compose, is an important work in Ge Fei's transition from avant-gardism to realism. Through the temporalization of imagery, the structure of narrative time and the representation of temporal themes, the "Jiangnan Trilogy" explores the texture of time ontology and the question of temporal orientation, pointing to a reflection on the humanistic spirit of contemporary Chinese society and the spirit of the times. The thesis is divided into three chapters.

The first chapter focuses on the analysis of the temporalization of imagery in the Jiangnan Trilogy. Firstly, it explores the overall concept of time in the cosmos as embodied in the imagery of nature and festivals from the natural and social dimensions. Secondly, through the writing of life and death imagery and dream imagery, the unique experience of time in the experience of life is expressed.

The second chapter analyses the writing of time in the Jiangnan Trilogy from the perspective of narrative strategy. Firstly, the three narrative levels of chronological time, generational time and biographical time are sorted out, showing the sequential nature of time in historical writing; secondly, the inverse nature of time is analyzed through the embellished narratives and circular narratives; finally, the unity of the temporal structure embodied in the narrative structure is analyzed.

The third chapter is devoted to the interpretation of the temporal themes in the Jiangnan Trilogy. The first is the explicit temporal theme of "Springtime", which expresses the temporal anxiety of limited life. The second is the two paths to the resolution of temporal worries, namely the modern revolution and "fame", as explored in the implicit temporal theme of "taoyuan". This leads to the ultimate temporal direction of the temporal theme, that is, 'return to the past' and 'homecoming'.

The concluding section summarizes the texture of the temporal ontology in Ge Fei's "Jiangnan Trilogy" and the humanistic and contemporary spirit of Chinese society to which the temporal narrative points. The "Jiangnan Trilogy" marks the maturity of Ge Fei's view of time and creation since his creation in the 1980s, reflecting his position of intellectual writing and his concern for Chinese writing under the "world" system and "establishing the subjectivity of modern Chinese The trilogy is a reflection and practice of Ge Fei's thinking on Chinese writing under the "world" system and on "establishing the subjectivity of modern Chinese literature".