Analepsis And Its Narrative Significance In Alice Munro's "Nettles," "Chance," And "A Wilderness Station"

The thesis investigates the manipulation of analepsis and the narrative effect such manipulation achieves in Alice Munro's short stories.The theory I rely on is that by French narrative theorist Gerard Genette,in particular his theorizing of the three kinds of analepsis,which are internal analepsis,external analepsis,and mixed analepsis.I will explore the roles which analepsis plays in character molding,plot development,and theme advancement in three of Munro's representative short stories,that is,"Nettles" in Hateship,Friendship,Courtship,Loveship,Marriage,"Chance" in Runaway,and "A Wilderness Station" in Open Secrets.Alice Munro,a distinguished master of short story writing,is praised as the modern Chekhov by the selection committee when she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013.Nevertheless,while Chekhov relies on the chronological narrative pattern,Munro is adept at using non-linear arrangement of events in the course of unfolding her stories.The manipulating technique that she prefers is that of analepsis.Studies on Alice Munro in the past tend to focus on the theme and contents of her stories from the perspectives of feminism,symbolism,sociologism,and religion.Little critical attention is paid to the use of shifts and disruption in Munro's narration,let alone her ingenious use of analepsis and the intricate narrative effects this application has produced.This thesis attempts to find out the narrative effect of analepsis so that we may deepen our understanding of Munro's works.As a well-known authority on narrative theory,Gerard Genette,in his seminal book Narrative Discourse:An Essay in Method(1 972),tries to "fill the need for a systematic theory of narrative"(7).In the first chapter of this book of comprehensive narrative theory,Genette elaborates on the concept of "Order," which involves "relations between the time of the story and the(pseudo-)time of the narrative"(35).Clearly,the temporal arrangement of narrative events is of significance for any meaningful textual analysis.Accordingly,Genette presents a new narrative concept,Analepsis,to facilitate the narrative analysis,which includes three types,namely,internal analysis,external analepsis,and mixed analepsis.In this thesis,I will employ Genette's theory on narrative time in general and analepsis in particular to analyze Munro's short stories,in the hope of discovering the narrative effects produced by the use of analepsis in those three stories,especially in such respects as character,plot,and theme.The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter 1 introduces Alice Munro and her works,gives a literature review on the related research in and abroad,and elaborates on the theory of analepsis in Gerard Genette's noted work Narrative Discourse:An Essay in Method.Chapter 2 analyzes the use of analepsis in the short story "Nettles" in terms of character portrayal.Particularly,the discussion explores how the application of analepsis influences the emotional fluctuations of the heroine.Chapter 3 analyzes the use of analepsis in the story"Chance" in terms of plot development.Chapter 4 discusses the employment of analepsis in the epistolary story "A Wilderness Station" and tries to illustrate how well-placed instances of analepsis advance the theme and help to convey the feminist message.Chapter 5 is the conclusion where I summarize the key points I have made in the previous discussions.