A Study Of The Marines Of Autumn From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Written by James Brady,The Marines of Autumn is a typical Korean war novel.Viewing from the perspective of New Historicism,this thesis analyses intertextuality in The Marines of Autumn between text and history,showing the "Big History" and"histories" reflecting in this story.Besides,the novel also reflects the author's historical ideologies.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part is an introduction to new historicism theory,The Marines of Autumn,^literature review,as well as the purpose.significance,and method of this thesis.The second part mainly analyses the "Big History" of the Korean War,including the American government politics,MacArthur's military strategy and Truman's politics in the novel,as well as the intertextuality between the Korean War literature and history in the novel.The third part analyses the small histories of the Korean War history in the novel.In the view of new historicism,there is no obvious distinction between text and history.The new historicists complete the reconstruction of history through the reinterpretation of the text.Therefore,this part analyses marginal characters described in the novel.including the American children,and the American soldiers.They are all the victims of the Korean War,and their destinies can reflect the individuals' perspective of history.It subverts the traditional official history,reflecting the whole history and giving a reconstitution of the Korean War history.The fourth part analyses the historical ideologies reflected in The Marines of Autumn,including American postwar reconsideration of new political strategy,reconstruction of peaceful international relation and the ideas of Anti-war as well as humanitarianism.The last part is the conclusion,by analyzing this novel from New Historicism perspective,it indicates that people can recognize the history completely,and get a historical ideology from the Korean War.Therefore,it is a historical novel.In the novel,James Brady shows the Korean War,meanwhile shows his historical consciousness.