The Narratological Study Of George Eliot's Middlemarch

This thesis is a study of the author's voice and aesthetic distance in George Eliot's novel Middlemarch, from the perspective of narratology and the rhetoric of fiction.The author's voice in the novel and aesthetic distance are the two major concerns in the study of narratology and rhetoric of fiction. Narratologists are interests in the ways of making a story; while the rhetoric of fiction focuses on the aesthetic distance which involves the author, character and reader together.Everyone knows that the nineteenth century is a brilliant period of the fiction in the history. It creates a group of famous novelists, such as, Dickens, Thackeray and Jane Austen. But few novelist of that period have ever attempted to surpass her achievement in her masterpiece Middlemarch. George Eliot's great achievements depend on many aspects, one of which is her skillful use of narrative techniques. Thus an attempt is made in this thesis to provide an analysis of George Eliot's narrative techniques in Middlemarch based on the theories of narratology and fictional rhetoric,with an aim to contribute further in explaining and interpreting the literary works and theories.The introduction gives both the reasons and the significance of analyzing George Eliot's narrative skills.Chapter I, according to Booth's narratological theories, by the comparison of the other perspectives, and points out it is clear that the third person omniscient perspective is the most proper way to complete the novel. George Eliot's omniscient can be included into three ways: temporal, spatial and psychological omniscient. In Middlemarch, George Eliot goes easily and freely from past to present, from place to place, and from character to another. One aspect of the omniscient is the complement of the other two. The privilege of the author combines with the silence of the author together produce a more powerful narrative effect than the author has expected.Chapter II deals with the author's intrusion which includes direct appeal and indirect comments. This chapter focuses on the author's direct appeal which included: the direct comment on the character, the mottos and the addresses to the reader. In many scenes, George Eliot does not attempt to portray the character directly. The emotions of the characters are expressed by physical postures and other ways. Her voice in this novel is a formal constituent: it shifts the point of view, it frames and underlines characters or groups or actions, and it often gives us an explicit clue to understand the meaning of the novel. Through these various voices of the author, we can not only understand the characters in the novel, but also can we interpret the human beings in the whole.Chapter III gives an analysis of George Eliot's narrative technique based on fictional rhetoric. In Middlemarch, George Eliot uses her overall writing skills to make up a story by describing the juxtaposition of the plot so as to eliminate some distance. Through the control of distance, the author, the reader and the characters reach one a consensus in morality and emotion. From the author's viewpoint, a successful reading of her novel will reduce to zero the distance between the essential norms of her implied author and the norms of the postulated reader. George Eliot's success depends on her ability to move beyond the moral universe of the novel and turn towards to the reader and invoke a general body of moral knowledge which can be possessed by both reader and writer.The conclusion summarized the whole chapters and makes a conclusion that George Eliot is a great master and originator of narrative techniques and she is a forerunner of modern fiction.