A Analysis Of The Narrative Startegy Of The Island From The Perspective Of Classical Narratology

Victoria Hislop(1959-)is a famous British contemporary writer.In 2006,she published her debut novel The Island,which ranked first on the ranking list of best-sellers in UK.In 2007,The Island won the New Book Award,for which Victoria was awarded Best New Writer Award.Victoria Hislop’s The Island focuses on the Petrakis family living in the islands of Crete and Spinalonga that lie in the southeast of Greece.The story starts with the heroine Alexis’ exploration of the secrets of her mother Sofia’s family.It reveals the strangeness,anxiety,loneliness and confusion brought to the whole family by leprosy.Based on Gerard Genette’s classical narratology,this thesis studies the unique narrative techniques used in The Island from three perspectives: narrative time,narrative focalization and narrative discourse.It expresses the actual effect of the narrative strategy in the novel,so that readers can get a deeper understanding of the theme and characters with the theme of leprosy.The thesis is divided into six parts,including Introduction,four chapters of content and Conclusion.Introduction presents the life and main works of Victoria Hislop,the story of The Island,the research status at home and abroad as well as the significance of the thesis.Chapter One states the development of narratology and Gerard Genette’s classical narratology,and then summarizes narrative time,narrative focalization and narrative diacourse used in the thesis.Chapter Two discusses narrative time in The Island.In terms of time order,the author uses analepsis and prolepsis,which not only enable readers to understand the hidden history of Sophia’s family but also enhance the richness of the characters.Regarding time duration,Hislop mainly adopts summary,ellipses,scene and pause.In The Island,there are many vivid descriptions of scenes and dialogues,through which the characters’ features are fully represented.In the novel,there are also manypsychological descriptions of Maria’s going down with leprosy and her lover’s abandonment,all of which belong to pauses.In terms of frequency,Hislop is adept at using repetitive narratives,with the purpose of making use of this method to present subtle changes of the narration of the personalities,themes,and narrators.Chapter Three analyzes The Island from the perspective of narrative focalization.By focusing on the inner world of Anna and Maria,the conflict between thought and contradiction is unobstructed.The use of zero focalization increases Hislop’s credibility as a narrator by allowing readers placed in god’s perspective to know everything about the story.The external focalization leaves the readers more space for imagination,mystery and space for interpretation.And focusing on the real objective world and the subjective consciousness of characters through the transformation of focalization.Moreover,it helps to reveal the loneliness,helplessness and spiritual crisis of the people on the islands of Crete and Spinalonga.Chapter Four elaborates narrative discourse in The Island.Through analyzing narrative discourse,indirect narrative discourse and dramatic narrative discourse,the thesis demonstrates how Hislop uses the versatile narrative discourse in The Island.The varied narrative discourses reflect the cruelty of leprosy,the diversity of characters and the changes of leprosy on several generations,and indicate the real living conditions of all characters in the novel against the background of leprosy.Conclusion points out that this thesis analyzes the strategies of classical narratology in The Island by using Genette’s narrative time,narrative focalization and narrative discourse,which not only shows Victoria Hislop’s mature narrative skills,but also reveals the ordinary but unusual people on the island: the isolated and excluded lepers,the doctors who risked their own safety to develop the drug and Maria,who was isolated but still active and helpful to others.Victoria Hislop has a unique perspective,focusing on the absurdity and reality of lepers as well as the people around them,sketching out two different “human societies” on two different islands and depicting the beauty and ugliness of human nature from generation to generation.