An Analysis Of Autobiographical Colors Of David Copperfield Based On The Theory Of Biographical Facts And Fictions

David Copperfield,as the last of Charles Dickens’s early novels,possesses the distinctive autobiographical features and has been defined as the autobiographical novel by literary criticism.By making comparison and contrast between Dickens in real life and David in fiction this thesis analyzes how Dickens fictionalizes the biographical facts into an artistic work and how the features of an autobiographical novel are embodied and rendered in David Copperfield.The first part of the thesis consults and analyzed the relevant documents in the past thirty years to trace the development of autobiographical novels.Besides,it summarizes and reviews foreign and domestic research on autobiographies and autobiographical novels,which offers a theoretical basis for the research on the autobiographical features of David Copperfield.In second part,the thesis presents the similarities and differences between Dickens in real life and David in fiction,such as their life experiences,marriage,family members,social and historical events they were confronted with,and cultural standpoints they held.Such comparisons and contrasts lay the solid foundation for the analyses of autobiographical features of the novel.The third part studies the aesthetic features in David Copperfield respectively from biographical fictions and facts and literary ones.Meanwhile,this part analyzes how Dickens employs the plentiful literary devices to create his "black humor",comic expressions and humanistic characterization,all of which have been improved and exalted to feature his later works.Autobiographical novel is an important literary genre in English literature and David Copperfield is a stunning masterpiece in the genre.This thesis studies Dickens’ skillful literary devices of fabricating and sublimating the real life into an impressive literary work to reveal the aesthetic principles and literary meaning of autobiographical novels,which might as well throw some light on the future research of biographical literature.