The Study Of Non Linear Narrative In Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince

As the most prestigious British writer in 20th century, Iris Murdoch, has won her fame since the publication of her first book Under the Net in 1954 for unique style and philosophical probing. As a philosopher, her novel is considered as a way to express her insights of thinking, similar to that of Satre's. But Murdoch disagrees that her novel is philosophical and she herself a philosophical novelist. Although her fiction provides her philosophical insights, it is not contradictory with her talented narrative skills.The Black Prince is the fifteenth fiction of Iris Murdoch, and is considered the best one among all others. The narrative in The Black Prince does not follow the tradition by dividing text into several chapters. Murdoch's application of new narrative skill that is different from conventional fictions is observed. The text is characterized by non linear narrative structure, which is a breakthrough of traditional linear narrative technique.This paper is composed of five chapters. Except the introductory and conclusive parts, the paper will examine the non linear narrative in The Black Prince from three aspects. First is the circular narrative structure. According to Murdoch, the center of this structure is love. She argues that love frees human beings from egoism, and becomes attentive to others, resulting in a freedom of spirit. The relations of Bradley, the protagonist with other main characters in the fiction experience changes and improvement caused by love. Their relationship also forms four elements go around the center. Due to its circular narrative structure, the plots of the text repeat themselves in the end.Next, the paper will examine the multi-level narrative structure based on Genette's theory about narrative level. The text is intentionally divided into three levels, more complex and symbolic compared with conventional fiction. Bradley's main story enables a further division into two levels:super-narrative and main narrative. The main story is featured as self-reflexive novel. Moreover, a complicated symbolic space is established. Therefore, the text is also a symbolic novel that is full of symbols.Lastly, the paper will analyze the non linear time view in The Black Prince in accordance with Bergson's time theory. The analysis proceeds from three aspects:the unbalanced length of three parts in the story, adoption of flashback and open-ended structure.