A Study Of The Unreliable Narration In Henry James's Short Stories

Henry James is one of the most greatest American novelists,stylists and critics during the late nineteenth century to the twentieth century,who has a significant influence on British and American literature.He is good at writing psychological realism and the status quo of human existence.There have been a lot of researches on his novels at home and abroad,whereas,most of them still concentrate on cultural criticism,feminism,psychoanalysis and so on,and very few concerned about narratology.Therefore,the thesis attempts to study on the unreliable narration in James' s short stories,hoping to promote James study to some extent.Unreliable narration is one of the most important concepts of narratology.There are two different schools in unreliable narration studies,namely,rhetorical school and cognitive school.Unreliable narration was first put forward by American rhetorical scholar Wayne Booth,who claims that if the narrator's narration is consistent with the implied author's norms,the narration is reliable,otherwise it is unreliable.James Phelan inherits and develops Booth's theory by distinguishing three axes of unreliable narration in six different subtypes,and he adds the axis of knowledge/perception on the theoretical basis of Booth,namely,misreporting and underreporting on the axis of facts/events,misevaluating and underevaluating on the axis of values/ethics,misregarding and underregarding on the axis of perception/knowledge.The thesis investigates into the unreliable narration in James' s representative short stories The Pupil and The Beast in the Jungle with the support of Booth and Phelan's theory of unreliable narration.The value orientation of the implied author,as well as the functions and effects in these texts will become the focus of the present thesis.It may provide a new perspective and reference for the interpretation and research of James' s short stories.The thesis falls into six parts.It starts with a brief introduction to Henry James and his short stories,and summarizes the major research results and related comments of domestic and foreign scholars on James' s short stories.The purpose and significance of the study also come along with the introduction.Chapter One is theoretical framework.It outlines the development of unreliable narration theory and theoretical viewpoints of two approaches.Booth and Phelan's theory of unreliable narration is elaborated.Chapter Two analyzes the unreliable narration in The Pupil onthe axis of facts,values and perception,which differs from the implied author's norms.Chapter Three probes into the unreliability of the protagonist in The Beast in the Jungle along the three axes,as well as the reliability contained in the unreliability,reflecting the implied author's real intention and ethical concern.Chapter Four discusses the functions and effects of unreliable narration in creating irony and shaping characters.Unreliable narration also arouses the enthusiasm of readers to participate in the secret communication and gains greater aesthetic effects.The thesis ends with a conclusion that unreliable narration is one of the most striking features in James' s short stories,it not only adds artistry to the works,but also enriches the space of interpretation.The thesis also points out the limitations and what may be done in the future study.