The Changing Structure And Function Of Narrative

Joseph Conrad (1857-1904) was a great master. He was famous for his writing of sea adventures. Due to his outstanding narrative skills, he was acclaimed as one of the founders of modernist literature. Heart of Darkness (1899) was praised as a monumental work among modernist novels, in which Conrad integrated modernist fragmentary narration with traditional tales, thus forming his unique narrative style. However, critics seldom comment on his first mature voice of Marlow in Youth (1898). Like in Heart of Darkness, the main narrator, Marlow in Youth, plays two roles. He is a character and commenter about his past experience. There exists a frame narrator "I" and a group of listeners aboard different ships. The two novels share similar main narrative structures. But the changing structure and function of narrative make the two novels two different texts of different literary schools: modernist text and realist text. In this thesis, we shall apply narrative theory to discuss the narrative changes in both novels: In the light of ethos of the times in the late 20^th century, we shall try to dig out the reasons behind the change. What is more, we shall sum up Conrad's artistic principles to support our preposition.The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the background for the writing of the two novels, analyzing the similarities and differences between them in the aspect of narration, and summary of the narrative criticism about them. The second chapter is devoted to the penetrating textual analysis of narrator and narratee in the field of narrative level, extent of participation in the story, reliability, degree of covertness and overtness. The third chapter summarizes narrative features in both novels. Then it reaches a conclusion that the narrative structures change from in-closeness to openness. Moreover, this part examines thechanging function of the narrator in two novels, for it plays an import part in the transformation of the narrative structure. The fourth chapter points out the congruity and incongruity in Modernist text and Realist text, and supports it by the circumstantial discussion of the two novels. The fifth chapter investigates the ethos of the times in the creation, and makes a brief summery of Conrad's artistic principles. The last chapter concludes that although Conrad was acclaimed as a Modernist novelist, his novels integrated the characteristics of the realist with the modernist texts. His desire is to "make you see" the truth. That may be the reason why his works have infatuated readers of generations.