The Study Of The Writing Techniques In Herzog From The Perspective Of Narratology

Saul Bellow was one of the most remarkable novelists in America literature. Atthe same time, he had won the Nobel Prize in Literature in1976, which brought himinternational fame. In the United States Herzog is regarded as one of the greatestnovel after the Second World War. Herzog laid a solid foundation for his award. Thenovel described the spiritual crisis of a Jewish American intellectual. Some ingeniouscombination of letter form, interior soliloquy, shifting points of view and specialnarrative time are adopted to enrich the characterization and elucidate the theme.This thesis is the analysis of the writing techniques in Herzog from theperspective of narratology. The author tries to explore the actual function of writingtechniques in Herzog. The thesis falls into five chapters. Chapter one is a briefintroduction to Saul Bellow’s Herzog and narratology. As a Nobel Prize winner,Bellow’s work has a profound theme and special writing technique. Herzog is therepresentative work of Bellow. Narratology is the major theory support for the thesis,so there is a brief introduction to narratology. French narratologist Gerard Genettemakes great contribution to the development of narratology and his NarrativeDiscourse is a masterpiece which analyzes the literary work with theory ofnarratology. Genette’s Narrative Discourse is a major theory of this thesis. Chaptertwo aims at studying the special narrative structure in Herzog. Generally speaking,many novels contain one or two narrative levels, while the novel Herzog has threenarrative levels. Saul Bellow put many rational thinkings and abstract ideology intothe special narrative structure with the help of letters and memories. Chapter three discusses the narrative time and space in Herzog. In the novel, the narrative time andspace are broken into pieces. Saul Bellow controlled the time and space freely todeepen the atmosphere of a certain time and reflect the complicated mental state ofHerzog. Chapter four is the analysis of the narrative points of view in Herzog. Theshift between different points of view gives the readers a chance to observe Herzogand his numerous events from different angles. Chapter five is the conclusion of thisthesis. The analysis of the writing technique in Herzog from the perspective ofnarratology contributes to a deep comprehension of the novel’s theme and character.The author appreciates Saul Bellow’s special writing technique and realize how heuses them in the novel.