An Interpretation Of Metafiction In The Black Prince

Iris Murdoch was regarded as the most profile and most influential woman writer after the World War II. She published almost forty novels, plays, poetries etc in the aspects of philosophy and literary criticism. In 1973, The Black Prince was published and it was considered as one of the most popular works of Iris Murdoch and it gained in numerous favorable comments at the year of its publication.Metafiction has become a popular conception and it has deeply influenced the contemporary culture and ideology in contemporary western and eastern cultures. Because of the range of it is pretty huge and complicated, we can hardly to make a accurate definition to metafiction. Many metafiction writers attempt to break the restriction of conventional literature which by some new narrating techniques, aiming to express their opinions on reality. Iris Murdoch has successfully used some writing techniques of metafiction into The Black Prince. This thesis tries to her mediation on literary creation and literary critics. Murdoch’s as a writer and critics and interpret concern on literature.The thesis can be classified into four chapters.Firstly, the introduction part is consists of the brief introduction of Iris Murdoch’s life and her major works; an introduction of The Black Prince, including its characters, plots, writing techniques and its literary achievements; the aim and meaning of this thesis and its research status at home and abroad.Secondly, chapter one, in this part writer mainly focuses on the main writing techniques of metafiction. As we known, the conception of metafiction is a set of huge and complicated part, so the first part of chapter one was started with the definition of the metafiction. The brief introduction includes following parts: its way of development; leading figures with its main opinions. The second part of chapter one is the introduction of some writing techniques of metafiction and it is the basic theory frame of this thesis. The characteristics of fictionality, parody and non linear narrative are the main point of this essay.Thirdly, chapter two points out that the authenticity and fictionality is an important skill of literary criticism and literary creation in the writing techniques of metafiction. Iris Murdoch has a talent of applying these techniques. Through the authenticity and fictionality interpretation of certain text will make the readers easily to get a better understanding of metafiction phenomena and the definition of it. The chapter begins with the introduction of authenticity and fictionality, following with the analysis The Black Prince’s writing techniques. Iris Murdoch exposes the fictional nature of metafiction through the description of characters, plots and themes.Fourthly, chapter three depends on the characteristic of parody in the novel The Black Prince. This part mainly analyzes Murdoch’s parodies of different literary genres. From chapter two, the thesis formally gets into its topics. The Black Prince subverts the traditional conception through parodying the forms, the subjects and the classical texts of the conventional fiction and distorts them.Fifthly, chapter four mainly discuss about another important characteristic in metafiction, non linear narrative’s application in the novel, the use of circular narrative structure, multi-level narrative structure and an open ending. Murdoch’s purpose is to probe into the artificiality of reality and this novel is also the author’s self-deception in The Black Prince. This thesis shows Murdoch’s innovation and mediation of the creation process in the form of fiction. Many American writers started to abandon the traditional way of writing, instead mainly focuses on the mound of characters, the continuity of plots since 1960 s. They rebuild the metafiction merely pursuit text’s self-revealing. Iris Murdoch always interrupts herself during her narration and directly comments on the content of her former narration. The writer hopes the readers of the paper would be have a further research of Irish Murdoch with her novels.