A Narratological Reading Of The History Man

Malcolm Bradbury, a versatile novelist and theorist, has attracted more and more attention since the publication of his first novel Eating People Is Wrong in 1959. Stepping Westward (1965 ), The History Man (1975 ) and Rates of Exchange (1983 ) are also important representatives. His works aim at exploring and analyzing the modern human spirit of degeneration and absurdity under the social background of his era, especially after the Second World War. My thesis will analyze the narrative features from the aspects of time order, rhythm and frequency to prove that the text is a well-narrated work.Campus writers present the craziness, degeneration and bedlams in the lost modern world through the depiction of campus life. One outstanding feature in postmodernist works is the narrative techniques which include narration of anachrony, rhythm and frequency. Such narrative techniques mean the unification of time and space, the readers' intervention into the narration and abandonment of the restriction of traditional linear time narration, and thus fitly reflect, in narrative form, the craziness and absurdity in modern society. The novelist's narrative techniques in the aspects of anachrony, rhythm and frequency embodied in The History Man are the main research objects of my thesis. The thesis attempts to analyze the novel from a new perspective to understand the function of narrative strategies in establishing the decadent, absurd and crazy society. All of what I do in the thesis is original in China. I hope this dissertation will draw more attention on the novelist and his works.The thesis is divided into three chapters besides introduction and conclusion. Introduction includes a brief introduction to Bradbury and his works, compositional background, introduction to The History Man, a literature review and the thesis statement of my paper.In the first chapter, narrative strategy of order, especially anachrony, and its embodiment in the text are presented by concrete and representative examples, and how the narrative technique functions well to serve the expression of the theme is also analyzed. Retroversion of the Kirks' history helps readers understand why radical changes happened on the Kirks. So much information is packed within two days in the clue of Howard Kirk's whereabouts. Consequently, retroversion is obviously the most suitable narrative form. Modern human spiritual state of degeneration, absurdity, perplexity and hollowness is presented appropriately.The second chapter discusses the narrative strategy of rhythm, which includes scene, ellipsis, pause and summary. Their embodiment in the text and emphasis on theme are presented by concrete and representative examples. And how this narrative technique functions well to serve the expression of the theme is also analyzed. The text contains many scene depictions in the form of dialogue, a suitable method to show different characters' inner world.The third chapter discusses the narrative strategy of frequency, its embodiment in the text as well as its function. Iterative narration reflects inner hesitation and perplexity in the British society in the writer's era, and emphasis on iterative narration serves the theme well. Frequency stands for historical recycle, in which many things are unavoidable and irresistible. Should human beings be as radical as Howard Kirk to cater for the historical development, or as passive as Carmody to keep indifferent to the changes of history?In the part of conclusion, a brief summary of the thesis and emphasis on theme are included. According to the narratological analysis of The History Man, the novel is demonstrated to be a typical postmodern work, with its narrative features nicely reflecting human degeneration, hollowness and absurdity in Bradbury's time.