"A Game Of Narrative Power":Research On The Metanarrative Techniques In Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth is a newly published novel of Ian McEwan. Putting aside its spy theme, the most attractive aspect of this novel lies in its using of metanarrative techniques. In addition to preserving the essence of traditional metanarrative technique, the author has developed something new in his Sweet Tooth. This thesis is composed to make an analysis, based on the methodology and metanarrative techniques of metanarrative theory, on the metanarrative techniques and narrative discourse of Sweet Tooth through structural analysis and intensive reading of the text. This thesis takes this novel as a game of narrative power played by Ian McEwan under the context of mate-discourse.Chapter Ⅰ of this thesis is an introduction of various types of metanarrative techniques and an analysis of the features of the metanarrative techniques used in Sweet Tooth:Sweet Tooth applies multi-level nested structure during the story development and clears up the fiction phenomena. Meanwhile, it does best in avoiding the common disadvantage of metafiction:eliminating the suspense too early.ChapterⅡ makes an analysis on the narrative structure of Sweet Tooth and divides the novel into three major narrative levels:metanarrative level, sub-narrative level and sub-sub-narrative level. Under this basis, this chapter has analyzed the structure between narrative levels and between nested stories, the structure between the story module and narrative clues as well as their relation with the narrative levels.Chapter Ⅲ makes a research on the narrative discourses and metadiegetic. It differentiates the narrative discourses of Selina and Tom, two characters in this novel, and the metadiegetic of Tom, serving as an implied author of Ian McEwan. Finally, this chapter discusses the metadiegetic of Ian McEwan over the narrative structure of this novel. This thesis regards Sweet Tooth as a narrative game of Ian McEwan, analyzes the elements involved in his narrative game and makes a simple study on the fresh experiences that this technique gives its readers through this novel.