On Postmodernist Features In The Black Prince

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) presents special scenery in the history of British literature. She is considered one of the most prolific writers following Dickens as well as the most influential novelist in Britain after the Second World War. She published over 40 works ranging from novels, plays, poetry to works in philosophy and literary criticism. The Black Prince (1973) is regarded as her representative work which was published in 1973 and highly praised by critics. It was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize that year.Postmodernism has become a prevailing leading concept in contemporary western and eastern culture and therefore exerted profound influence on contemporary culture and ideology. Nevertheless, since the concept is generally broad, it is not yet strictly defined. Many postmodern writers try to experiment with some innovative narrative techniques, which are farther different from the traditional ones, to reflect their ideas on reality. Iris Murdoch, in The Black Prince (1973), successfully adopts a variety of postmodern techniques to narrate. This thesis provides an interpretation of Murdoch's reflections and mediations on literature, literary creation and criticism as both a writer and a critic.This thesis consists of four chapters besides the introduction and the conclusion.Chapter One the introduction includes a brief introduction of Iris Murdoch and her major literary works. Then the emphasis will be placed on the literary position and plot of The Black Prince. Then the thesis gives the literature review on The Black Prince. The last section of the introduction is to explain the definition of postmodernist theory and the theoretical framework of this thesis.Chapter Two points out that intertextuality is one of the most important literary creation and literature criticism among Postmodernist literary theories. Intertextuality enables readers to understand and explain much better many phenomena of postmodernism. This chapter begins with the elaboration of the concept of intertextuality. Then it further relates that The Black Prince is the absorption and quotation of Greek myth and an explicit intertext of Nabokov's Lolita. Through cross-text analysis, it summarizes the self-redemption of this novel in the pursuit of relationship between art and morality.Chapter Three explores another important postmodernist feature in literature: parody. Murdoch is a genius of using parody. It discusses the parody of love story novels, parody of Freudian psychology and parody of different literary genres in The Black Prince. Through parodying the forms, the subjects and the classical texts of the traditional fiction, this novel distorts them and subverts the traditional concept.Chapter Four focuses on the fragmentation elements in The Black Prince, which is another important feature of postmodernist writing techniques. The open ending, the intrusive author and the symbols break the integrity and continuity of the novel. The text applies fragmentation to interrupt continuity of narration and directly comments on the narration of the novel. It aims to probe into the facticity and artificiality of reality and this novel, as well as the author's self-deception.Chapter Five expounds that metafiction is an important narrative characteristic in The Black Prince. Since the 1960s, some American novelists have abandoned and surpassed the traditional narrative modes and skills in fictional creation, and initiated metafiction, which attached great importance to the self-revealing and language experiment instead of the continuity in narrative, characterization, plot developing and the theme. The Black Prince is well known for its metafictional features. Through the analysis of the artificiality in its characters, plot and the theme in the novel, it can expose the fictionality of metafiction. The text shows that through the form of fiction Murdoch introspects the novel creation and then innovates it.Chapter Six summarizes this thesis. Through analysis of the postmodern features of the novel, this writer thinks that the novel embodies Murdoch's wishes to get rid of constraint of traditional writing and pursue freedom and innovation. At the same time, the novel reflects Murdoch's deep concerns for the problems of postmodern fiction, art and morality.