The Fantasy Narration In Angela Carter’s Novels

Angela Carter is a prominent writer in Britain after the Second World War, whois famous for her imagination and fantasy writing. The Infernal Desire Machines ofDoctor Hoffman、 The passion of New Eve and Nights at the Circus are themasterpieces which she wrote in1970S and1980s. This dissertation, taken these threeoutstanding novels as the objects of study, based on the narrative analysis, focusesupon solving a problem about “What kind of narrative strategies does Carter use tobuild the fantasy world”.This paper mainly discusses this problem from below angles:the narrative time, narrative space, the narrator, the narrative structure and theaesthetic implication behind these narrative strategies.There are seven chapters in the dissertation: Chapter one summarizes Carter’slife experience、masterpieces and the academic studies of Carter in China and aboard.At the same time, it is trying to define the term “fantasy” in etymology, expressing thepurpose and significance in this paper. Chapter two discusses how Carter arranges thenarrative time to attract readers. It mainly discusses this problem from three angles:timing, duration and frequency. The third chapter analyzes the narrative space inCarter’s fantasy novels. It tries to find out how to build the natural space and socialspace in the novels. The fourth chapter analyzes the narrator in the novels. On the onehand, Carter uses the first-person experience focalization to enhance the credibility;on the other hand, she lets the intervention narrator to highlight that the stories arefictitious, which makes the readers reflect on the fantasy world. Chapter five mainlydiscusses the narrative structure in Carter’s writings. It focuses on three structures,including wave-like, box-like and mosaic structures. Chapter six explores theaesthetic implication behind these narrative strategies in Carter’s works. It departs thevalues as three aspects: the readers’ need for psychological fantasy-style、 thereflection of the real world and Carter’s pursuit for enchantment. The last chapter isconcluding remarks of the dissertation.