Narratological-Stylistic Analysis Of Doris Lessing’s To Room Nineteen

So far as the study of literature works is concerned, both narratology and stylistics adoptlinguistic mode to study their formal features. Although they have many things in common,narratology, originating from structuralism, puts more emphasis on macroscopic techniques orstructural arrangements while stylistics is primarily enthusiastic for the close examination oflinguistic details. Obviously, it is narratological techniques together with linguistic features thatconstitute the formal profiles of narrative texts. Thus, many researchers attempt to combine themtogether; however, most analyses simply focus on two overlapping aspects between these twoanalytical techniques: point of view and modes of speech and thought presentation, which is toorough and lacks general rules. Whereas the narratological-stylistic analytical frameworkconstructed by Dr Jia Xiaoqing aims at proposing the most common combinational rulesbetween narratological and stylistic analyses in order to help us find the foregroundednarratological and stylistic techniques to understand the narratives better.The narratological-stylistics emphasizes more on their bi-lateral interactions between thetwo analytical methods, that is, narratological analysis not only serves as the guide for perceivingand analyzing stylistic features, but can be confirmed, enhanced and enriched by the latter. Itconsists of five components: Character, Space, Event, Spatial Form and Point of view. Accordingto different novels, we can choose different elements under the guidance of thematic relatedprinciple and choices and analyses of both techniques are determined by the foregroundingprinciple. I choose the British writer Doris Lessing’s To Room Nineteen as the analytical text andstart the narratological-stylistic analysis from character and point of view these two elements,fully revealing the true face of the Rawlings’“happy”life which in fact is based on a series ofpatriarchal value system.The thesis consists of six parts. The introduction gives an overview of the study, includingthe motivation, purposes, methodology and procedure. Chapter 1 reviews the combination of thetwo disciplines achieved by far and some previous famous practices. Chapter 2 sets up thetheoretical framework for the study, focusing on the narratological-stylistics, foregroundingprinciple and some other concepts in the field of narratology and stylistics. Chapter 3 and 4 are narratological-stylistic analyses of the character and the point of view.As for the character, we mainly talk about characters’concretization and presentation, showingSusan’s mental journey and Matthew’s selfish and chauvinism. During the process of analysis,we sometimes find stylistic features under the guideline of narratology, and sometimes uselinguistic details to confirm the narratological analysis. Under the title of point of view, wemainly talk about combinations of perceptual point of view with stylistic analysis andcombinations of ideological points of view separately. Perceptual point of view can be analyzedfrom pattern of transitivity, deixis, representations of thought and perception. Combinationsabout ideological points of view help uncover psychological or ideological inclination.The last part is the conclusion, in which the findings and significance of the study aresummarized. It can help us to understand To Room Nineteen better by using thenarratological-stylistic analytical technique and this thesis provides a reference model for thenarratological-stylistic application to other novels. What’s more, in this part, the limitations arepointed out for future study.