The Classic Of The Unity Of Form And Contents

Wilkie Collins is a popular writer in the Victorian Age. Both his father and godfather were artists, and he was raised among writers and artists. He graduated from law school and later became a lawyer, which made a fundamental base for him to become the father of English detective novel. With the publication of The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins gained an acceptance as being among the most significant detective novelists. His novel served as a model for detective fiction in later generations. This novel succeeded partly because of its unique narrative techniques. Therefore this thesis attempts to analyze the success of the novel from the aspects of narratology. The thesis consists of five parts:The first part gives a simple introduction to Wilkie Collins, his works and the critical responses to The Moonstone. The second part is Chapter One of the thesis introducing the theory of focalization of Genette. The theory is used to analyze the application of first-person perspective and variable focalization in the The Moonstone. First-person narration is not only to engage readers directly in the novel but also to create depth. Variable focalization is a type of first-person narration, which overcomes the shortcoming of"over-subjective"in traditional first-person narration and makes the novel more objective and stereoscopic.The third part is Chapter Two of the thesis analyzing the circular narrative structure in this novel. This structure helps to reveal the theme---the critique of English imperialism and the praise of main character's search for love in the world. The fourth part is Chapter Three introducing the theory of narrative time of Genette. The theory is used to analyze the variable narrative time in The Moonstone. It fully depicts the complicated psychological transformation of the characters during the process of solving the case.The fifth part summarizes the functions of first-person narration, circular narrative structure and variable narrative time in The Moonstone, and the conclusion is that The Moonstone is a classic, which unifies contents and form perfectly.