A Perfect Combination Of The Theme Of Existential Freedom With The Postmodern Narrative Techniques

John Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman is an excellent postmodern fiction. Since its appearance in 1969, it has not only received a string of favorable academic reviews, but also acquired great success in both commercial and academic values. This novel relates a mysterious and tortuous love story happening in the Victorian Age of the mid 19th century, in which Sarah and Charles, the heroine and hero of this novel, shake off social prejudice and restrictions, struggling to acquire their freedom and independence. In point of theme, The French Lieutenant's Woman conveys Fowles' view of existential freedom, a kind of noble spirit of freedom which has melted with Sartre's concept of freedom; in point of narrative, this novel employs some postmodern narrative techniques, and both reconstructs and deconstructs the Victorian fiction. This paper will analyze and explore the relationship between the theme and narrative, showing Fowles not only expresses his view of existential freedom, but also embodies it in some postmodern narrative techniques --- the ironic first-person narrator, the triple endings and the use of history--- realizing a perfect combination of both of them. This combination, which can be seen as Fowles' double expression of freedom in his literary creation, provides the reader with a new point of view for the understanding of this novel's theme. This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction of Sartre's concept of freedom and Fowles' philosophical thoughts, showing that Fowles' ideas of existential freedom, which is deeply influenced by Sartre's, has his own distinctiveviews based on his experience. Chapter Two discusses the expression of the theme of existential freedom in this novel. Sarah and Charles, coming from different social classes, have identical anxiety for freedom. In their relationship, Sarah, obviously in an active place, is a creator and manipulator of story. She realizes her life value and existential meaning through a series of designs, choices and actions, and involves Charles onto his road of independence and freedom. Chapter Three analyzes the changes of the roles of the author, character and reader in realist and postmodernist texts, stressing the important impact which the change of the role of the reader has on the reading process of postmodernist text. Realist text is fictitious, a mimetic representation of reality. The author-narrator controls the development of plots and characters in realist text. The reader always follows the author's telling and is ready to be entertained and educated. However, in postmodernist text, the author's subjectivity is subverted and his authority and domination are irretrievably overthrown. Reading, thus, is no longer a passive action but an active production of meaning. The reader is given a prominence and can participate in the process of production of the text meaning. Chapter Four is devoted to a discussion of three postmodern narrative techniques---the ironic first-person narrator, the triple endings and the use of history --- in The French Lieutenant's Woman and their embodiments of the theme, analyzing how the three narrative techniques provide the reader with another kind of depth and implication for the understanding of the theme in the dynamic relationship between thereader and text. Chapter Five Conclusion The French Lieutenant's Woman is a novel that both reconstructs and deconstructs the Victorian fiction. This novel not only tells a romantic and mysterious love story and conveys Fowles' view of existential freedom, but also embodies it in some postmodern narrative techniques, realizing a wonderful combination of both of them.