An Analysis Of The French Lieutenant’s Woman From The Aspect Of Intertextuality

John Fowles is one of the greatest British novelists in the20thcentury. His masterpieceThe French Lieutenant’s Woman which was published in1969is regarded as a postmodernclassical novel by the critics. Since its publication, this novel has received many scholars’attention and comments. Until now, Critics have adopted a variety of literary theories toanalyze this novel. This paper attempts to use the theory of intertextuality to analyze the novelfrom three aspects: intertextuality between texts, intertextuality between writers, andintertextuality between cultures. The purposes of such a progressive analysis are to makereaders not only see John Fowles’s views of literature, philosophy and science from theintertextual relationship between quotations and texts in the novel, but also pay attention tothe influence of Victorian novelists on John Fowles’s writing styles. Besides, readers coulddig up the cultural phenomenon hidden in the words and really understand the culturalconnotation of the novel.This paper will be divided into three chapters:Chapter one discusses the intertextual relationship between the quotations and texts inthe novel. This novel has a prominent feature: there is one or two quotations in the beginningof each chapter. The quotations in the novel can be divided into several categories, and thischapter chooses three main categories which are about literature, philosophy and science toanalyze how they form the intertextuality with the contents of each chapter. By using thequotations about literature, readers could better understand the development of plot and thecharacters’ psychology; by using the quotations about Marx’s philosophy and Darwin’sevolution, Fowles expresses his views of philosophy and science to readers.Chapter two mainly discusses the intertextual relationship between John Fowles andVictorian novelists in writing styles. In the creative process, John Fowles is influenced bymany Victorian novelists, especially by Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Bronte. Section Adiscusses the similarities between The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Tess of thed’Urbervilles in scenes and plots; section B discusses John Fowles’s imitation and development of Victorian novelists’ characterization; and section C discusses how Fowlesreflects the traditional themes of Victorian novels in this novel. Through analyzing the threeaspects, readers could understand how Fowles creates this novel as an “imitation of Victoriannovels” and transcends the limitations of Victorian novels.Chapter three analyzes the intertextual relationship between the Victorian culturereflected from The French Lieutenant’s Woman and the real Victorian culture. As a modernnovelist living in20thcentury, John Fowles reviews the Victorian culture in the perspective ofa modern novelist. This novel not only reflects the real Victorian culture, but also reflects theculture of his living age. This chapter is also divided into three sections: Section A andsection B respectively discuss the Victorian religious belief and historical culture reflectedfrom the novel; and section C analyzes the feminism culture in the novel. Such an analysisprovides references for readers to better understand the cultural phenomenon reflected fromthe novel.The conclusion derives that the intertextual analysis of The French Lieutenant’s Womanfirst makes readers find out the important context information and understand the plot andcharacters’ psychology through the intertextual relationship between quotations and texts;then lets them realize the influence of Victorian novelists on Fowles’s writing styles; andfinally they could see the cultural interaction hidden in the words. The author hopes that thispaper could provide references and directions for the future researches of this novel.