A Narratological Interpretation Of The Human Stain As A Postmodern Novel

Philip Roth is one of the most famous writers in contemporary American literary world and has been nominated for Nobel Prize several times.The Human Stain is one of his American Triology,which also includes American Pastoral and I Married a Communist.The novel was set in the 1990 s,showing confrontations between race and identity,opportunity and fate through Coleman Silk’s confrontations in real life.Because of the spooks incident,Coleman Silk was thrust with the charge of racism.With Coleman’s resignation and Iris’ s death,Coleman was exposed to develop an unknown relationship with Faunia.Finally,Coleman was cornered by the rumor.Through Philip Roth’s work,we explore the roots of social conflicts and dilemma,coming to a full understanding of the stain behind human race,and the stain in American society.Based on a close reading of the context,this paper intends to use both postmodernist theory and Genette’s narratological theory,especially Genette’s narrarive order,narrative structure,narrativity and frequency to analyze protagonists— Coleman Silk,Faunia Farley,Lester Farley and Delphine Roux—so as to show the apathy in the society.Through narratological interpretation,the novel examines the heresy of the plot and the theme of loneliness.In view of the conflicts of the novel,the thesis discusses the narrative order,discontinuity in narrative structure,narrativity and narrative frequency,showing postmodernist characteristics such as parody,intertextuality,indeterminacy of the characters and ambiguity in The Human Stain.This narrative not only reflects the characters’ complex inner world,but also depicts the loneliness of human beings in the postmodern world.Through this thesis,the study of narrative techniques offer a way to further research the postmodernist novel.Seeing through postmodernist features of the novel,the individual’s freedom of consciousness and the performance of deep loneliness are more apparent.All in all,narrative theory has been applied in order to shed a light on the theme of the novel: in the industrial production,men are always greatly alienated.People are losing the humanity and living lonely in a cold and indifferent world.Only by returning to nature and truth can we get the purification of mind.Only through deserting the human stain can we overcome difficulties and reach the richness of inner mind.