On Magic Realism In Nights At The Circus

Angela Carter is one of the most celebrated novelists and journalists in contemporary Britain, famous for her feminist, magical realism, picaresque and science fiction works. Carter has been listed in the first fifty greatest writers of Britain since 1945 by The Times, and placed in the tenth. Although Nights at the Circus is one of the later compositions of Carter's fictional life, it is the first composition to give her worldwide reputation, and gains James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.Like many of her earlier works, Nights at the Circus contains the elements of magical realism. In this novel, Carter mixes the magic and mysterious elements with the realistic elements, constructing a magical and fantastic adventure for the reader, which likes a whirlwind exciting and lively as a circus in the reality. Compared with the studies abroad, the studies on Angela Carter in China are rather limited. Most of her novels haven't been translated into Chinese and only several articles and dissertations are written about her works. Until now, although most of the studies focus on her short stories and novels based on the theory of feminism and magic realism, the study of magic realism in Nights at the Circus is still rare.Therefore, this thesis from a new angle analyzes the techniques of magic realism used in Nights at the Circus, in order to let readers get a comprehensive view of Carter's magic realism as well as her innovative techniques. Furthermore, the feministic theme underlying the magic realism in the novel also leads to people's profound consideration of the imparity of women in the aspects of employment and family, and helps modern women to rethink of their life and marriage, which may contribute in establishing a more harmonious society.Derived from Latin America, magic realism basically has three principles: firstly, it is the combination of magic and realism. Secondly, it applies mythological archetypes.Thirdly, it puts literalization into use. The basic principles have close integration with the novel and make the writing features formed in three aspects.This thesis consists of three parts: introduction, body and conclusion.The introduction part mainly presents the general situation of magic realism and the achievements of Angela Carter, illustrates the study situation of this novel at present and the significance of this thesis.The body includes three chapters. Chapter One is separated into three sections, dealing with the background information about magic realism and its features. The first section introduces the definition of magic realism and its historical development. Magic realism is one of the most noteworthy literary genres of the 20th century, which has an important position in the 20th century in western literature and reaches a high position in the literary world. As a term in art, magic realism describes a visual art movement emerging throughout Europe. As a literary form, magic realism refers to a mode of writing that combines reality and fantasy together and thus serves to convey the realistic truth which is under the surface of daily life and neglected by readers. The second section is about the characteristics of magic realism. Magic Realism has the most critical consideration; it uses the realistic tone to portray magic events which based on the matter of fact. Therefore, it is often considered to be related with literary realism with various characteristics. The third section is about the artistic principles of magic realism. As a mature and outstanding literary genre, magic realism has its own characteristics of the amalgam of realism and fantasy, utilization of mythological archetypes, and employment of literalization.Chapter Two is divided into three sections, which is about the magic demonstrations in the novel. The first section analyzes the combination of magic elements and realistic elements in the novel. The second section elaborates mythological archetypes used in the novel. Utilizing the mythological archetypes is one of the most important characteristics of magic realism. Magic realists often consider applying myths as archetypes to be a central method to explore the life of their characters. In certain sense, all the magic realistic works have a common mode of archetype which as the fundamental key. The third section is about the magic narrative techniques that Carter uses in the novel. Utilizing various modern narrative techniques to achieve the magic effects is another artistic principle of magic realism. Through her magic narration, the reality seems to be distorted, the plot suspended, the structure fragmented and cyclical in time and space and the perspectives are ever switching.Chapter Three is the causes of Carter using these magic features. This novel has shown the typical, traditional features of magical realism, such as hybridity, magical and gothic characteristics, complexity and diversity, but the primary causes are that she is influenced by traditional Latin American magic realism, postmodernism, and feminism.The last part is the conclusion of the whole thesis. Through the study of the magic realism that manifested in Nights at the Circus, this chapter summarizes the important points and gives some evaluations about this novel. To sum up, according to the analysis of magic realism in the novel, the reader can get a better understanding of Carter's remarkable writing skills, and innovations such as, utilizing postmodernism and feminism to rewrite fairy-tales that Carter has contributed. Furthermore, the feministic theme underlying the magic realism in the novel also leads to people's profound consideration of the imparity of women in the aspects of employment and family, and helps modern women to rethink of their life and marriage, which may contribute in establishing a more harmonious society.