On Thomas Hardy's Narrative Art In Jude The Obscure

Thomas Hardy is an excellent novelist in 19th century, whose novels have been followed with great interests by the related critics. It's not only because he has a critical challenge towards the disadvantages of the society, but also because his novels adopt the unique narrative techniques and narrative tactics successfully. All of them consist of Hardy's narrative manner and esthetical characteristics. Jude the Obscure is Hardy's another representative novel following the Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and is his last and the most controversial novel. This paper, based on the narratology theory, makes a profound study on the narration characteristics of the novel, and tries to present the artistry and super-times of Hardy's works. There are three chapters in this paper:â… . Unique narrative structureThis paper tries to analyze the narrative structure of Jude the obscure from the time, space, and plot aspects. In time structure, the novel narrates the hero Jude has great ambition in his childhood, wastes life in his middle age, and leaves the world lonely in the end. In space structure, Jude's short life is connected with five places, which are named as the chapter's titles. They string up the tragedy life of the hero. In plot structure, the main line is Jude's pursuit of love. At start he takes an unfortunate marriage with Araballa, then shakes off the shackles of secular and falls in love with Sue, at last he looses his kids and lover and falls into the trap once more. This is a round cycle plot full of tragedy and pain. It is different from the British realistic novel at that time, in which "Jack shall have Jill, all shall be well". Thereby it presents the author's unique understanding of the world and life.â…¡. The changing of the narrative effect by narrative viewIn novels, the narrative views set and adjust the focal length lens, and limit the role of real life. Most of writers in this period employed a single perspective. Hardy used the multi-view in the 19th century. But it was not until the 20th century that the multi-view became a novelist's general narratives technique. In Jude the Obscure Hardy produced free, suspenseful and objective narrative effect by transforming the narrative views.III. Narrowing the distance between characters and readers by narrative discourseThe combination of different discourses shows the unique artistic style of the novel. This paper mainly analyses how the author brings the readers into the character's consciousness by changing the discourse, which associates the reader with the novel, thereby calling the reader's sympathy for characters.ConclusionThe publication of Hardy's Jude the Obscure had been criticized angrily, but the skills in the novel are Hardy's conscious pursuit. Jude the Obscure has finally been recognized as an outstanding novel after his death, and is still the focus of attention of many scholars for more than 100 years.