Narrative Fiction Narrative Subject

Narratology of novel rose in the West in 1960s, and it is the theory analyzing the narrating structures and narrating specialties of novels. Compared with traditional novel criticism, Narratology of novel explores novels in terms of narration and provides a new way of thinking for novel criticism. Furthermore, it has deepened human's understanding of the style of novel But at the same time, the theory of Narratology of novel has lots of deficiencies, for example, the definition of the narrating subject (the key concept in novel narration), seems ambiguous and fussy all the time. Especially in the developing process of Narratology of novel, different factions came into being and they dispute on how to expound this concept and diverge from each other greatly, which has a harmful influence on the research of other related questions and on the creation of specific novels. This thesis attempts to make an overall combing and elucidation of the narrating subject in novels trying to promote the development of studies on novel narration.Chapter 1: The study on novel narration. The section 1 mainly discusses the limitations of traditional novel theories and the development of the theory of novel narration. Those novel critical theories before the 20th century mostly focused on the social, historical and cultural significance of works .etc. and they seldom study the form skills and structures of novels. With the rise of French structuralism, novel critical theories started to change their focus to the study on narrating forms and structures of novels. During this period, no matter Russian formalism critics, French structuralism theoreticians, or novel theoreticians in Britain and American, all of them made great contributions to the study of novels on the narrating aspect. Narratology of novel opens up a new prospect for the study of novels, but at the same time, it is criticized by its following New narratology because it puts too much emphasis on formalization. New narratology insists that the novel text should not be studied by itself, and separated from society, history, cultural and context and others; it also suggests that Narratology ofnovel should be banded together with other disciplines in order to absorb beneficial elements from others and advance the development of its own. The section 2 mainly talks about the particular relationship between novel and narration. Narration consists of two layers of meaning: narrating as a stating manner and story as the narrated subject. Novel is an overall activity which arranges many stories on by one and narrates them out through different narrating manners, its composing basis is story and narrating manner. Narration and novel is closely related to each other from this perspective. Through studying novel in terms of narration, we can gain a deeper understanding of novel.Chapter 2: The uniqueness of the narrating subject in novel narration. This chapter is the basis for the thesis to go further. After we have understood the close relationship between novel and narration, another question emerges, that is, since novel is to narrate a story, there must be a narrating subject, but who has told the story on earth? Theoreticians of Narratology of novel can not reach an agreement upon the question. The section 1 argues mainly that the author is the subject who writes the works, but he can not undertake the narrating task. Some hold that since author creates the novel, it is he that narrates the story naturally. In fact, author is no more than a person who writes the works. Once he finishes his works, his task is fulfilled. He can only exist out of the text, but he cannot enter into the text. The person who narrates in the text must be the narrator who conducts the narrating activity. The section 2 expounds that implied author can not become the narrating subject. Though implied author is in the text, he, under the writer's arrangement, is there to express the writer's thought and norm. He gives guidance to the readers on how to understand and comprehend the novel. But he has no voice. The man who emits the narrating sound is the narrator. The section 3 explores the relationship between character in the novel and the narrator. No matter in first-person novel narration or in third-person novel narration, character does tell a story sometimes, but his telling only takes place in the story world, and character and what he tells is the object which the narrator refers to in his narration, that is to say, they are the objects,relative to the subjects.Chapter 3: the function of narrator in novel narration. If we intend to grasp the subject which conducts narrating -narrator completely and deeply, besides defining and combing it, we should also realize its function in novel narration. As the narrating subject, narrator conducts the narrating activity, he also has the function of interfering in his narrating manner as well as the characters and events in the novel. The section 1 expounds that narrator, as the narrating subject, has the function of appraising and interfering in his narrating manner. This kind of interfering function indicates exactly that narrator as the subject has a full control upon narrating. The section 2 discusses that narrator as the narrating subject also has the function of explaining, appraising and generalizing the characters and events in the story he tells. This kind of function of explaining, appraising and generalizing can reduce readers' misunderstanding of the novel text and heighten the reading validity.The epilogue of this thesis, as the last part, points out that the purpose of discussing the narrating subject in novel narration is to modify the limitations that Narratology of novel has on this important issue. I hope this thesis is useful for the following studies on this aspect and it can act as a reference to the reading and analyzing of novel text, actually. At the same time, it is expected that more and more scholars make further research on this question.