On The Image Narration Of Fitzgerald’s Novels

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is an American famous modern novelist, his novels record the 1920s and 1930s of United States. In the background of the rapid development of the film industry, his writing and the culture of film inseparably connected. In this dissertation, I will discuss the image factors in Fitzgerald’s stories. Based on the research by the domestic and foreign scholars, using the narrative theory, this research will cut into the discussion from narrative perspective, narrative language and narrative time and space, trying to analyze the image narrative in his novels. In addition, by choosing’"The Great Gatsby" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" as my research object, I will explores the way of film adaption of Fitzgerald’s novels.This dissertation is composed of five parts. The first part introduces the studies of narrative theory and comparative between fiction and film of Fitzgerald’s novels, as well as define the image narrative. The second part analyzes the influence of image narrative, it caused by American economic and social background in 1920s and the flourish of image culture. The third part cut into the narrative perspective, narrative language and narrative time and space, pointing out that the "implied author" and first-person narrative in his novel have the same effect as the "camera-eye" in the movie; the use of sound and montage showing the image narrative characteristics; the nonlinear space-time showing the temporal and spatial characteristics of the film. The forth part discusses the practice of film adaptation about two of Fitzgerald’s fiction, and proposes the adapted method of narrative perspective, narrative language and narrative time and space. The last part summarizes the image narrative and adapted method of Fitzgerald’s novels, points out that film adaption should take a good use of the creative methods of film and grasp the theme of original work to reproduce a meaningful new work.