The Awareness Of Subjectivity:An Intertextual Study Of Donna Jo Napoli's Sirena

In the late twentieth century,there is an upsurge of rewriting canon in the West.By virtue of deconstruction and reconstruction,many authors try to establish a dialogical relationship with canons through subversive rewriting,which infuses new life into pre-texts in the contemporary context.Children's literature,one of the representatives in different rewritings,adopts retelling old stories as a new method for literary creation in the contemporary context.Donna Jo Napoli is both an outstanding linguist as well as a prolific writer of children's and young-adult fiction.Since 1993,the year she published her first book The Magic Circle,Napoli began to devote herself to children's literature.Napoli wins her reputation for retelling myth and tales from children's view which is long been placed in a marginalized position in the world dominated by adults.The main argument of this thesis is that intertextualityin Sirena serves for representing subjectivity,one of the major concerns in every adolescent's life.The thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter deals with the relationship between the lack of subjectivity and self-reference by combining Zel and Sirena together.In the repetitive story structures,it is not difficult to find that girls will grow into maidens imprisoned in the tower and boys will become the youngest who lost themselves in the forest in early puberty.Furthermore,reasons for lacking subjectivity are discussed from individual,family,and society perspectives in this chapter.Since Sirena is a story full of other stories,the second chapter will probe into Sirena's exploration of subjectivity through nested-narrative.The nested stories not only enrich the content of the novel,but also highlight Sirena's process of getting the subject position.Growing with stories told by Mother Dora,nymphs,and Philoctetes,Sirena gradually changes her attitudes towards these stories.She turns from a story listener into a questioner,debater,and eventually becomes a storyteller who tells her own story.The last chapter explores the establishment of subjectivity mainly from its intertextual references to Greek mythology and fairy tale.On the one hand,Napoli keeps the elements relating to subjective issues including archetypal characters,plots,motif,and symbols.On the other hand,Napoli challenges the pre-texts by putting tough issues about trauma and desire,endowing Sirena with voice,and subverting patriarchal ideology in traditional children literature.Extratextuality not only establishes protagonist's self-consciousness,but also reflects young readers' subject positions since it turns young readers into an active individual rather than a passive receiver during the course of reading.Therefore,Napoli's retelling of classics highlights issues concerning teenager's subjectivity in modern society.The protagonist's journey of growth makes sense for young adult's self-construction and self-realization.