Barth's Labyrinth: A Case Study On The Artistic Features Of Chimera

John Barth is one of the most influential innovators in the circle of American postmodernism fiction. His innovation in the theory and form has helped to give fictions a theoretical turn, "steering it away from the conventionally realistic use of plot and character, from an emphasis on verisimilitude or the texture of daily life, toward a concern with the writing of fiction itself." Nowadays, the study on John Barth in China has just taken the initial step. Therefore, the Chinese critics do not know much about his viewpoint,works and style. By contrast, in America most of the writings of John Barth have been studied carefully from the perspective of the language, style, culture, and so on. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is through looking into Barth's viewpoint and his novel Chimera to promote the interest in this important postmodernist writer and his works.John Barth is a productive writer. Chimera, has attracted a widespread attention since it was published in 1973, and it also gained the America Book Prize in the following year. This is one of Barth' representative works. In terms of structure, he inherites and developes the "frame-tale", and takes advantage of the spiral image, as well as uses the parody, collage, meta-fiction and so on. By doing this, he reforms a new story about the One Thousand and A Night and Ancient Greek myth. Through using the traditional theme and modernism skills, Barth finds a way to walk out of the exhaustion of the literature. Based on the above, one purpose of this paper is to conclude Barth' viewpoint on the novel and his practice in the text, and another purpose is to analyze Barth's attitude toward the reader and the postmodernism. The paper consists of 4 parts.The paper consists of 4 parts.Part 1, i.e. introduction, makes a systematical carding and summing-up of translations and intruductions of his works, especially Chimera in China. The main points of this thesis are also put forward in this part.Part 2, i.e. the first chapter of this paper, exposes Barth's viewpoint on the fiction in his famous article entitled "the Literature of Exhaustion". Barth's methods to save the fiction are to return the tradition of the literature, and to make use of it in a new way.Part 3, i.e. the second chapter of this paper, discusses Chimera's artistic characteristics from two aspects: the themes and rhetoric characters. "Exhaustion" is the only one theme. Barth mingles the three different storied by showing the process of the exhaustion of the heroine in order to discuss the way of saving the literature. Parody, collage and meta-fiction are the three primary techniques adopted in Chimera, which are mingled together into a kind of poetic flavor which is just the whole artistic feature of John Barth's fiction.Part 4, i.e. conclusion, discusses Barth's attitude on the relationship between the author and the reader as well as his idea about the postmodern fiction.