On James Phelan’s Theory Of Narrative Judgments

James Phelan is a famous postclassical rhetorical narrative theorist and one of the most influential narratologists in the world today.His theory of narrative judgments is one of the theoretical paths to explore the shared reading experience and an important link in the construction of his rhetorical theory of narrative.Taking Phelan’s theory of narrative judgments as the research object,this thesis attempts to systematically comb and explain its specific content and mode of operation,examines its influence and significance on the construction of narrative theory and practice of narrative criticism,and tries to reflect critically on the theory.This thesis consists of the introduction,four chapters and the conclusion.The introduction first briefly introduces James Phelan’s outstanding achievements in the field of narratology,and outlines the core arguments of the rhetorical theory of narrative.Then,it clarifies the relationship between the rhetorical theory of narrative and the theory of narrative judgments.Second,it reviews and combs the research status of the theory of narrative judgments in the domestic academic.Finally,the significance of the selected topic of this thesis is expounded.The first chapter mainly sorts out the theoretical origin and the process of theoretical construction of narrative judgments.Under the influence of his mentor Sheldon Sacks,Phelan began to pay attention and devoted himself to studying the reading experience.He first put forward the concept of "narrative judgments" in his article "Narrative Judgments and the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative: Ian McEwan’s Atonement"(2005),using it as one of the theoretical paths to explore shared reading experiences.Since then,he has constantly enriched and perfected the theory.The second chapter elaborates the concrete connotation and mode of operation of the basic types of narrative judgments.Phelan divided the narrative judgments into three types:interpretive judgment,ethical judgment and aesthetic judgment.Interpretive judgment is the judgment about the nature of actions or other elements of the narrative and it is the basis of the other two judgments.Ethical judgment is the judgment about the moral value of characters and actions,and it is closely related to "ethical position".Aesthetic judgment is thejudgment about the artistic quality of the narrative and of its parts.Like ethical judgment,aesthetic judgment proceeds "from the inside out" and involves a two-step process of "reconstruction" and "evaluation".In addition,this chapter also discusses the relationship between three kinds of narrative judgments.The third chapter focuses on the research object and the subject of narrative judgments.The research object of the theory of narrative judgments includes standard narrative,lyric narrative and portrait narrative.On the subject of narrative judgments,this thesis argues that reader,character,narrator and implied author can make narrative judgments,but the types of narrative judgments they make are different.In addition,this chapter also analyzes the relationship between the narrative judgments made by different subjects.The fourth chapter makes a detailed analysis of the effects of the theory of narrative judgments.On the one hand,from the perspective of the rhetorical theory of narrative,this chapter investigates the influence of narrative judgments on the understanding of narrativity,narrative form,narrative ethics and narrative aesthetics,as well as the narrative progressions.On the other hand,it discusses the significance of Phelan’s theory of narrative judgments to the construction of narrative theory and the practice of narrative criticism from the macroscopic level.The conclusion part summarizes the main points of the thesis and reflects the blind spots in the theory of narrative judgments.