Interpretation Of The Narrative Strategies In Summertime

John Maxwell Coetzee, the outstanding contemporary South African writer and2003Nobel Prize winner, is famous for his works featured by diverse writingstrategies, multiple themes and strong artistic quality. In the meantime, he attachesgreat importance to narrative techniques and strategies, illustrating distinct themes bydifferent narrative modes. Summertime, Coetzee’s third autobiography after Boyhoodand Youth, demonstrates clearly his innovative and creative writing technique. Heemploys various kinds of narrative strategies in the novel to polish the theme andreveal the character’s features, presenting the perfect combination of content and form.The novel adopts different perspectives, different narrative voices and extends its narrative time,leaving readers more space for the interpretation of the text.The thesis analyzes Coetzee’s narrative strategy in Summertime from threeaspects. Firstly it probes into the narrative point of view of the novel, and analyzes itsfocalization mode with the theoretical support of Genette and Shen Dan’s narrativeperspective typology. In Notebooks1972-75, Margot’s interview and undatedfragment, Coetzee uses third person internal focalization, adjusting narrative distanceand restricting the perception of focalized character; while in the other four interviewsconducted by Vincent, the author applies first person external focalization, focalizingon the external aspects of events or characters. The conversion of internal and externalfocalizations regulates the distance between readers and the narrator, and emphasizesthe thematic significance.The second part discusses multiplicity of narrative voices in Summertime. Basedon Bahktin’s polyphonic theory, the thesis unfolds independent narrative voices ofdifferent self consciousnesses, which are treated as equally independent andauthoritative as the author’s own consciousness. Moreover, Coetzee uses two types ofdialogues--great dialogues and micro-dialogues to construct a heteroglossia dialogicrelationship. The multiplicity of narrative voices presents the indeterminacy of narration and enhances the tension and suspension of the text.The third part discusses the uniqueness of narrative time in Summertime, mainlyfrom the interlacement of time sequence and the application of present tense.Notebooks1972-75is in an explicit linear temporal order, while the narrativesequence in the interviews is interlaced with flashbacks and flash-forwards. With theinterlacement of narrative time, Coetzee unfolds the inner mind of different charactersand their connection with the protagonist. In notebooks and Margot’s interview,present tense is used. And by applying present tense, Coetzee highlights thesubjectivity of the novel, creating a brand new experience for readers.As a writer with mastery of narrative strategies, Coetzee reveals his brilliance increating narrative tension in Summertime. With the exquisite narrative strategiesapplied in this novel, Coetzee not only endows the novel with great significance, butalso provides an innovative narrative mode.