A Study Of The Subaltern Narratives Of Lynn Nottage’s Plays

Lynn Nottage is a famous contemporary African-American female playwright.Influenced by her living environment and American regional culture,Nottage’s plays prefer to depict the survival situation of marginalized people in society,focusing on the joys and sorrows of the subaltern,and building a unique,complex and life-affirming subaltern world.This article takes the subaltern narrative of Nottage’s drama as the research object,supported by narratology theory and hermeneutics theory,and analyzes its unique space construction and expression techniques in the subaltern narratives of drama by carefully combing and studying Nottage’s drama texts,exploring the literary value and practical significance of Nottage’s subaltern narratives.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter defines the concept of "subaltern" and "subaltern narratives",and explains the subaltern position in Nottage’s drama narrative.The second chapter explores the roots of Nottage’s subaltern narratives in the context of the 21 st century,starting with the rise of the subaltern narratives,which involves reflections on the contradictions of reality,the rise of "back to reality" and the playwright’s subaltern experience.In the 21 st century,the contradictions of the American reality are prominent,and the experimental literature is no longer in the limelight,and the subaltern narratives,as a narrative category closely connected with reality,has entered people’s view.Nottage,who has real experience of the subaltern,pays extra attention to the neglected subaltern in reality,and never gives up writing about the suffering of the subaltern in her plays.The third chapter presents Nottage’s real and cruel subaltern world from the unique spatial places of the subaltern.The space chosen for the subaltern in Nottage’s play is the forest and factory of a decaying town,with the lively,chaotic bar occupying the center of the subaltern space.The forest of Ituri is filled with the bloody smell of an unjust war,the cries of innocent women suffering and the lure of huge war money;the individualism of the Olmsted factory is rampant,and racism becomes a breakthrough for the subaltern to fight for profits.The mixed nature of the bar makes it the most frequented place for the subaltern in both towns,where the characters find respite from their suffering and regain it.The four chapter discusses the subaltern narratives techniques of Nottage’s plays in terms of both narrative strategy and narrative mode.Nottage uses a non-linear narrative structure to dissolve the order of dramatic development,to separate the audience from the text,and to intermingle the text with reality.He also uses language appropriate to the identity of the characters to make them more three-dimensional.“Ruined” and “Sweat” present the narrative tendencies of "resistance" and "reconciliation" respectively,revealing the different choices made by the subaltern when facing different difficulties.The fifth chapter aims to explore the subaltern narrative value of Nottage’s plays.By depicting the world of the subaltern,Nottage praises the resilient survival consciousness of the subaltern and objectively examines the subaltern with a rational perspective,depicting a beautiful blueprint for racial harmony and equality,which has important implications for today’s society.