The Implications Of Parody And Polyphony

In the latter half of the 20th century, two alternating streams of realism and experimentation dominated the development of the English novel. However, from the late 1970s to the 1990s the English novel entered a stage of the concourse of the two streams. People seemed to live in an age of unprecedented cultural pluralism, which allows the combination of a variety of styles into a single work. It is in this pluralistic context that David Lodge's trilogy of campus novel came into being. Many scholars treat it as a typical postmodern text judging from its formal features such as parody, pastiche, carnival and meta-fiction. However, the author of the present thesis denies its identification as a postmodernist text, and holds that it emerged out of neo-realism and can be seen as representative of the developing trend of English novel in the 1980s. That is to say, Lodge's campus trilogy both inherits the great tradition of realism and absorbs some new technical innovations of experimentalism. The present thesis, by analyzing the implications of its two important formal features-parody and polyphony, aims to reveal the essential characteristics of its creation and its significance in enlightening the developing trend of the contemporary English novel.The thesis consists of five parts: "Introduction", "Chapter One The Postwar British Novel", "Chapter Two The Implications of Parody", "Chapter Three The Implications of Polyphony", and "Conclusion"."Introduction" aims to give a brief survey and introduction of the trilogy of campus novel and makes clear the writing purpose and perspective of the thesis. That is, by analyzing the implications of parody and polyphony, to reveal Lodge's literary creation belongs to the realm of neo-realism, which blends realism and experimentalism and marks an important trend in the development of the postwar British fiction."Chapter One The Postwar British Novel" is divided into two sections. The first section intends to make a brief analysis of the situation of the postwar British novel by making a summary of the two alternating streams of realism and experimentalism. Thenin view of all kinds of modern critical theories appeared in the trilogy, the second section summarizes Lodge's main critical theories and practices in order to attain a more accurate understanding of his novels."Chapter Two The Implications of Parody" is subdivided into four sections: Parody in General, Parody Characteristic of Lodge, Comic Effects, and Meta-fictional Aspect. The first section gives a simple introduction of parody and traces its development in Western literature. The second section identifies the special characteristics of Lodge's use of parody in his campus trilogy. His parodies are often highly specific and local, which means specific writers and works are referred to or directly imitated and are made intelligible through the consciousness of a comic protagonist. In addition, they are aimed at a great variety of modern critical theories, expressing self-conscious reflections on novel writing practice. The third section analyzes the comic aspects of parody in the trilogy. Lodge's use of parody often produces comic effects with serious self-questioning purposes. The author's attitude toward critical theories and criticism, though often ambivalent and illusive, is implied in a comically subtle way. In addition, the constructive and critical function of parody is realized through parodic comic effect. Lodge's creative orientation and liberal humanism is built into his comic use of parody. The last section probes into the meta-fictional function of parodies. Through analyzing the meta-fictional devices of the trilogy, we can understand the dilemma of Lodge's twin identity of novelist and academic critic. His self-conscious reflections on literary conventions and writing problems, such as the relationship between fact and fiction, life and literature, are built into his novels by this parodic meta-fiction."Chapter Three The Implications of Polyphony" explores some of the polyphonic featu...