The Collision Of History And Culture

Jean Rhys is one of the finest British women writers in the twentieth century. She came from the West Indies, but later lived in European cities, mainly in Paris and England. She published five novels, three collections of stories and an autobiography. As one of the twentieth-century experimental women writers,each of her works is an experiment on theme, style and form of fiction.Jean Rhys is a writer who is concerned with developing the techniques of storytelling. Her fifth and last novel Wide Sargasso Sea is a culminating work that embodies her technical maturity in narrative and characterization. In the previous research of Wide Sargasso Sea, it is mainly studied from the perspectives of feminism, psychoanalysis, mythic archetype and post-colonialism. A few critics pay attention to its narrative techniques and characterization, but they give their discussions only from a small scope, for example, only from its structure, points of view and characters's voices. Few critics provide a discussion of artistic features in the novel. Therefore, in my thesis, what I will do is to make a further detailed discussion about its narrative strategy, characterization and artistic features. I will use some concepts of narratology and the novel's theoretical terms to do an in-depth exploration on these three aspects. Through an elaborate analysis of this novel, I wish my thesis, to some extent, could make a significant complement and revelation to the study of Wide Sargasso Sea.My thesis is composed of five chapters. The arrangements are as follows:Chapter One: Introduction. It mainly introduces Jean Rhys's life and literature review on her works, especially on her famous novel Wide Sargasso Sea. It tells the purpose and method of writing this thesis.Chapter Two: Narrative Strategy. It is expanded from the novel's plot conceiving, structure's arrangement and the use of narrative techniques. In discussing narrative techniques, it is illustrated from the choice of points of view, the manipulation of focalization, the application of voices, the rhythm of scene and summary, the use of...