On "the American Girl" In The International Fictions Of Henry James

Henry James is a cross-century, trans-cultural American novelist, whose contribution to literary creation and novel theory in English world is immense. He is a great pioneer who opens a new era of modern novels during Anglo-English novel's coming from tradition to modern.James's deep concern for female characters constitutes one of the major features of his literary creation. In his fictional female world, women, once regarded as the source of evil, now become the emblems of American culture and value. This attitude towards women is the turning point in American cultural heritage. James is famous for his"international theme". His representative works such as The Portrait of a Lady reveal his fascination with his"American girl"——the symbols of American——caught in the toils of European duplicity."The American girl"had been, in fact, the focal point of most of his international fictions. The paper chooses"the American girl"in Henry James's international fictions as an object for analysis, elaborates the essence, narrative strategies, cultural connotation and gender politics of Henry James's literary creation. The thesis aims to interpret the characteristics which is a meaningful literary theme in the new century and will add new blood to the systematic research on this special female group.Using the theory of narratology together with text-oriented approach, this thesis expounds the cultural significance and gender politics embodied in James's"American girl"on two levels:"the story"and"the narration"by means of cultural logic and male utterance.This thesis consists of five parts. The introductory part gives a brief introduction about James's literary contribution and the present research on him home and abroad, focusing especially on his creative creation of his heroines. The first chapter is devoted to James"international theme"and his American girls. The second chapter analyzes the...