The Defamiliarization Of Narrative Techniques In Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick is one of Herman Melville’s masterpieces, which is recognized as a national epic of America. This novel has drawn considerable attention of readers and academic researchers due to its unconventional narrative structure, diversified narrative perspectives and fabulous language features. On the basis of a close reading of the text, this thesis probes into the effect of the defamiliarization of narrative techniques in Moby-Dick in the light of Sklovsky’s defamiliarization theoryAs one of Russian Formalists, Shklovsky advocated the theory of defamiliarization in1916. From his viewpoint, the art means to become strange. All expressive forms are not strict copies of reality in literary works, on the contrary, they are intentional deformations, violations and alienations. In Moby-Dick, the effect of defamiliarization is represented from three aspects, namely, the retarded narrative structure, unique narrative perspectives and poetic language.This thesis is mainly composed of five parts. Introduction of the thesis dwells on Herman Melville and literature review on Moby-Dick, the significance of this thesis as well as the outline of this thesis. Besides, a simple description on Viktor Shklovsky’s theory of defamiliarization is also included. Chapter One chiefly introduces the unique space-time construction and tree-shaped arrangement in this novel, this kind of narrative structure prolongs the readers’perception time and deepens the difficulty of understanding through deadening effect of habit and convention between the story and the readers. Chapter Two probes into the defamiliarization of narrative perspective combined with Gerard Genette’s focalization theory. The focalization theory is classified into three types:zero focalization, internal focalization and external focalization. It achieves to the artistic effect of defamiliarization through the shifting of different narrative perspectives. Chapter Three expounds the defamiliarization of language in this novel. A large number of dramatic monologues, symbolic words and rhetorical devices are employed to break up the traditional thinking patterns. On the one hand, the defamiliarized language enhances the readers’ perception of this novel and extends the esthetic space of this novel; on the other hand, this novel is endowed with a sense of intriguing and strange.Defamiliarization theory emphasizes that people should use a whole new way to pay attention to the novel and experience again the things which they have been familiar with, and it also can enrich the further understanding of this novel. Through analysis, this thesis aims at exploring the narrative techniques in Moby-Dick by dint of defamiliarization theory, which endows the readers with an entirely new evaluation and unprecedented internal feel. Moreover, this perspective is expected to be helpful to the comprehension and appreciation of Melville’s Moby-Dick.