Intertextual Reading Of The Collector And The French Lieutenant's Woman

As to The Collector, some critics cast their eyes over the book and simply classify it as a thriller. It is more than what it seems to be after analysis. Beneath its skeleton of a sensational crime fiction, the author probes into the essence of arts, humanity, philanthropy and forgiveness; the estrangement between classes; the distortion of human nature in asphalt jungles; the misapprehension caused by gender gap; the emancipation of women; the violence in various forms and cruelty under the camouflage of love; the alienation of kindred. If a metaphor of the novel can be used, a kaleidoscope of life suits it most, through which the beauty and ugliness, the good and the evil are magnified.The French Lieutenant's Woman is considered as the classic among postmodernism novels. It is a vivid parody of the Victorian Era in the 19th century together with subverting factors. The open-out makeup of the novel contradicts with the sense of reality, producing a unique beauty. John Fowles forsakes the absolute control over the characters and evolvement of the plot and invites the cooperation of readers. By doing this, he endows both the readers and personas with the right of pursuing freedom.On the basis of the intertextuality theory, this thesis devotes to the contrastive and comparative study between two literary works of John Fowles: the commencing book: The Collector and the crest book: The French Lieutenant's Woman in order to show the similarities and dissimilarities of the two works, consequently the continuum and innovation in John Fowles'creation. Both novels are intertwined with other literary works in characters, plot, and theme. The truth tells us that a literary work can not exist by its own; nevertheless, it bears many influences from other works of other writers. Besides this, the intertextual facts within the same family lines (books of the same author) are more than often overlooked. The innovation of this thesis lies in this part. By intertexuality, literary works yield more meaningful explanations and the characters are much deeper in thoughts. Why we choose to analyze the two novels is not without reasons. The Collector is the first novel of John Fowles, so it is easy to grasp the intention, technique and style of his creation, while The French Lieutenant's Woman is considered as John Fowles'masterpiece by which the writer reached crest in his career. Of course there are many other classics such as The Magus, Daniel Martin, etc., but The French Lieutenant's Woman is the most recognized and deep-branded John Fowles'style. By comparing the two novels, we can see that some themes recurred in his works: the few confronts the many, the artistic versus the conventional, the elite versus hoi polloi, as well as a concern with freedom and authenticity. The continuum and innovation in creation of John Fowles is obvious.The thesis falls into 5 parts:The entering part is composed of pithy information of John Fowles; gist of two novels concerned; a terse literary review; and lead-in on related approaches.The second part analyzes the mystic loop in both two novels.Next part consists of two points. One is the comparison and contrast between two male protagonists: Frederick Clegg and Charles Smithson. There are 14 items in all to be covered. The comparison and contrast show the defects in both of the male protagonists and the betterment of Charles compared to Clegg. The other is the comparison and contrast of two heroines in The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Woman: Miranda Gray and Sarah Woodruff. The comparison and contrast show the carry-on spirit in the two women, and point out the improvement in the latter. If Miranda is the primitive female image pursuing freedom and fighting for her rights, Sarah is her amended version in The French Lieutenant's Woman. They are the same women under different names.The fourth part is a study on the interchange of heroes and heroines. By interchanging, readers can take part in creating literary works instead of passively accepting them. Because of the fixed characteristics, the characters have to continue the journey on the prefixed track.Last but not least, the conclusion part makes a summary on the significance and innovation of the thesis.