A Narratological Study Of Walter Scott's Historical Novels

Walter Scott(1771-1832),a Scottish novelist,poet,playwright,politician and lawyer,was crowned “the father of historical novel” for his outstanding and genuine composition of twenty-seven historical novels.The popularity and influence of Scott's historical novels are second to none at his time,and a large group of famous authors worldwide owe debt to Scott's inspiring and provoking writings.Although previous studies on Scott have covered various aspects of his novels,including the theme,social and political significance,artistic features,aesthetic value,and etc.;although his talent in plotting the story of history is widely acknowledged,the narrative strategies employed in the novels have not received a comprehensive scrutiny on the basis of narratology.The present study aims to reveal the narrative structure and features in Scott's historical novels,taking narratology as the theoretical basis and starting point,and emphasizing the interaction between fiction and history reflected in the genre of historical novel.Due to the space of the present dissertation,five novels,namely Waverley,Rob Roy,The Heart of Mid-Lothian,Redgauntlet and The Talisman,are selected as the objects of analysis for their representative features in narrative strategies.Five narrative aspects – plot,narrative time,narrator,focalization and characterization – are closely analyzed to reveal the shared features of narrative strategies and particularities of the five novels.The major concern is over the dilemma between history and the fictional narrative.As a pioneer of historical novel,Scott carefully keeps the dividing line between the real and the imaginary world,because the truthfulness to the historical facts is held as the main principle of telling stories about history.Fictional characters and their stories are ingeniously embedded in the grand framework of history,while creative but reasonable imagination presents the readers a panorama of the common people and their life,in which Scott's political proposal and empathy are fully expressed and explained.However,within the grid of history,the track of the historical events,unattached in his writings,constructs the covert plot line and guides the overt fictional plot line to the ending that will concord with the existing history records.Scott's historical novels are,in essence,fictional because the main body of his novels is composed of an adventurous experience of a fictional protagonist.Various narrative strategies in Scott's novels succeed in fabricating a romantic and fascinating fictional world.More important,these strategies set the norm for a classical historical novel: the faith in historical records and in presenting it properly.If a classical historical novel is compared with a contemporary one,the fundamental difference between the two is in the premise that each takes different view towards history and historical records.The former is written on the basis of the belief that historical truth has already existed and can be revived in narrative,while the later will try various rational or irrational means to challenge the existing historical records which are nothing more than mere textual narratives.The change is not only the progress of the literary genre itself but also the evolution of literary criticism and philosophic study of humanity.The whole dissertation consists of eight chapters.The first chapter serves as an introduction,which briefly introduces Scott's achievements,contributions to and influences on both the writing of historical novel and other fields besides the literary writing.Criticisms on Scott and his historical novels yell a great amount of fruitful results,but at present this great inventor of historical novel and his impressive works are on the verge of oblivion both at home and abroad.The present study may be of significance to the re-discovery of Scott and his works from the narratological perspective which has not been fully and properly attended before.Besides,the reasons why the five novels are selected for the current study are elaborated.The chapter ends with introducing the organization of the dissertation.Chapter two reviews previous Scott studies with the focus on structure,characterization,plot and other topics related to narrative strategies.Though in the previous studies both the features and defects are brought to analysis,comprehensive and systematic research on Scott's historical novels is lack,especially from the perspective of narratology.Compared with the academic studies in the western countries,related studies in China is far from adequate.The third chapter argues about the most fundamental issue of the historical novel: the dilemma between historical truth and literary writing.Views on this issue vary over time.Three phases – pre-historical-novel,classical historical novel and the postclassical historical novel – are summarized to illustrate the shift from a clear separation of literature and history to a blurred line in between.The argument which focuses on whether the past can be revived or not in narrative has drawn historical novel from a secondary and marginalized position to the center,because historical truth is generated rather than found in textual narratives.Scott's historical novels are representatives of classical historical novels,and the significance of his works is beyond the establishment of a literary genre,because they provide the possibility of connecting the real and fictional world and approaching history with literary writing.Besides,since narratology serves as the theoretical framework for the present study,the key issues and aspects of the theory are briefly introduced in this chapter to illustrate how the following chapters will analyze the selected novels.Chapter four to seven are devoted to the detailed analyses of the five selected historical novels concerning the following aspects: plot,narrative time,narration and focalization,and characterization.The shared plot structure in most Scott novels is constructed into the format of a journey,in which the protagonist grows up both in terms of mentality,social status and family wealth.Along with the adventurous journey there is a covert plot line of history.At the end of each novel,the fictional plot line always converges with the covet line with strategic narrative.The coherence can also be found in the strategy for narrative time.The fictional family chronology,which emphasizes the displacement of the old generation by the new one,coincides with the progress of the history.The evolution in both the fictional and real historical world is irresistible while Scott's sympathy and lament for the Scottish people and the past generation are also made explicit.When telling these historical stories,a first person narrator at the extradiegetic level always leads the progress of the plot.The distance between the narrator and the focalizer and the limited view of the narrator cause the major suspense,which arouses the tension of the narrative and the readers' interest.The unbalanced focalization,which almost exclusively rests on the fictional common people,achieves the emotive effect and reveals the author's concepts of historical narrative.In terms of characterization,the protagonist with wavering and moderate character,functions as an abstract container which is open to any figures fictional or non-fictional.Though the real historical figures take the dominant role in deciding real historical events,the emphasis of the portrait is laid upon the common people,who are impressive with specific features or play an important role at the kernel of the plot.Besides,female characters with extraordinary features and personality contribute not only to Scott's successful characterization but to the construction of the whole narrative structure.The last chapter first summarizes the narrative strategies discussed in the previous chapters and re-emphasizes the achievements Scott obtains in connecting the history and the fictional story.Scott's historical novels mark the beginning of a new literary genre,and more importantly their influence on the contemporary authors and works shall not neglected.People's curiosity towards the past never fades,but it is always stimulated with an attempt in narrative,no matter whether it is classical or contemporary.