| Margaret Drabble is concerned primarily with the living condition of female intellectuals. Her writing has reflected various difficult choices that females confront so as to explore the way out for modern women. The Red Queen, published in2003, is a work probing into the possibility of the existence of universal transcultural human characteristics. By breaking the limitation of time and space, this novel carries out a conversation between the past and the present and pries into the essence of human existence. The western scholars try to analyze the theme of Drabble’s novels from the perspective of feminism and realism, while in China, the study on this novel is rare and inclined to follow the trend of the western study. Therefore, in order to open a new horizon, this thesis will discard the traditional perspective of feminism but focus on the exploration of human existence that Margaret Drabble has skillfully carried out.This exploration is carried out simultaneously, through two lines interweaving with each other. One is the thematic line, that is, in this novel Drabble is no longer limited to the female existence, but she extends her viewpoints to that of the whole human being. The reflected existentialist views, such as the absurd world, the alienated world and the free choice and responsibility, are similar to Sartre’s existentialist views; the other one is the aesthetic aspect, that is, the narrative techniques.In order to express the existential theme, Drabble has creatively embodied the theme using the postmodern narrative techniques, which is the uniqueness of this novel. Therefore, this thesis aims to probe into the existential elements in this novel and its relationship to the narrative skills, to analyze how Drabble has successfully reflected the condition of human existence through her special and unique narration with a kind of hope and optimism. |
