Analysis On The Narrative Art Of Willa Cather's A Lost Lady

The American writer Willa Cather was highly praised for her typical subject and style in her novels. She was even considered to be one of the most famous writers in America in the 20th century. "A Lost Lady" is the last of her six "Nebraska novels". And it is also the reward of her hard work in pursuing wholeheartedly a better art form and writing skills. With its simple but implicit language and compact structure, this medium-length novel doesn't miss anything that is necessary for a full-length one. In this novel,we can fully appreciate Willa Cather's experiment on narrative skills and the great achievement she got. The narrative style that came into being in "Oh, pioneers" developed into a mature one in "A Lost Lady". So,to know better about her writing skills and narrative style, it is both important and necessary to analyse the narrative art in "A Lost Lady".Just for this purpose, this paper tries to analyse the narrative art from three aspects. The first is on the two kinds of point of view that the novel takes, and the narrative effect it brings. The second is on how the implied narration adds to the meaning of the text. The last deals with the "repetitive narration"and how it helps with the interpretation of the text and the intention of the narrator. As a result of the joint effort of its typical narrative art, the novel gets a feature of both meaningful and a little confusing. So, by analysing the narrative art of the novel, this paper tries to find a way deep into the text so to have a better understanding of the theme of the novel , and at the same time, a better appreciation of its beauty and value.