Abstract: Narrative gap is a narrative phenomenon with above-zero story time and zero textual length. Its rhetoric value can be reflected in three aspects. The first is the deeper involvement of the readers in the narrative communication by narrative gap. In the transmission of narrative gaps, the narrator deliberately tries to hide some important incidents, so as to evoke the readers’ curiosity, then the effect of “the more the narrator tries to hide, the more the hidden events are exposed” can be achieved. The second is that the recurrence of the filling of narrative gap can make the readers experience the text over and over again. The third is that the narrative gap can avert the psychological rejection that might be encountered. The permeable entering of narrative gap and the action mode of diffusive influence can greatly reduce the psychological rejection that readers may produce.

Key words: narrative gap; higher-degree involvement; longer-lasting time; little repulsion encountered