Metaphorical Intertextuality In The Peppered Moth

Margaret Drabble, a prominent contemporary female British writer, is bestknown for her early feminist novels. In the late1970s, she dropped traditionalfeminist writing and started to experiment in the framework of realistic fictionaltradition. The Peppered Moth is her least-critiqued millennial novel. This thesis isdevoted to dissecting the most salient artistic feature and fictional technique in thisnovel metaphorical intertextualityμ, a name coined to denote the extendedmetaphorical relationship between a given fictional text and its related text fromanother domain, which works in tandem with their intertextuality; these two literaryeffects thus merge into one and contribute to the novel·s full significance.After a brief survey of Drabble·s novelistic career as an experimentaltraditionalist, the thesis focuses on exploring her prominent innovation in ThePeppered Moth, namely the manipulation of metaphorical intertextuality. Referring toRiffaterre·s interpretation of intertextual process, the thesis begins with aninvestigation into the target domainμ of the metaphor by probing into the heatedlydebated case of the peppered moth, trying to bring out the biological text that closelycorresponds with the fictional text. Then it proceeds with a close examination of thenovel from two aspects, human life-pattern and human anxiety, in comparison withthe above-mentioned text, which reveals an extended metaphorical construct betweenthe two texts and leads to the confirmation of metaphorical intertextuality as adistinctive artistic feature in this novel. The latter part of the thesis elucidatesmetaphorical intertextuality as a fictional technique in The Peppered Moth anddescribes its main characteristics. Finally, the thesis reaches its conclusion thatDrabble·s skilful employment of the metaphorical intertextuality technique in ThePeppered Moth underlines the success of her realistic fictional experimentation and epitomizes contemporary British novelists· continuous exploration of the possibilitiesof their realistic fictional tradition.