On Magic Narrative In Caryl Churchill's Plays

Caryl Churchill(1938-)is the most important female dramatist in modern British.Her plays are full of a strong spirit of exploration and experimental consciousness,which has made a great influence on the theatrical circles of British and even the world.Many of Churchill's works use a strange and unnatural narrative that blend ancient and modern times,showing a magical creative style.Selecting three plays of Top Girls,A Mouthful of Birds and The Skriker as the research object,this dissertation takes the time,space,role and plot of the play as the breakthrough point.Through the in-depth reading of the text,it deeply analyzes the manifestation of the magical narrative in Churchill's plays and explores the metaphorical meaning and aesthetic effect of magical narrative.The Introduction briefly introduces Churchill's creative experience and achievements,clarifies the research value and significance of this topic,summarizes relevant research literature at home and abroad,and puts forward research ideas and methods.The first chapter examines the historical dimension and the choice of subject of the formation of magical styles in writers' plays.The combination of the magical narrative in the English literary tradition and Churchill's personal talent constitutes the dual impetus for the generation of the magical style in her plays.Moreover,the magical narrative adopted by Churchill is similar to a contemporary myth,which breaks through the appearance of life and digs out the essence of life through symbols and metaphors.The second chapter explores the first Churchill's manifestation of magical narrative: staggered space-time.The concept of time and space in Churchill's plays is completely different from the traditional one,so it cannot be explained by realistic time and space logic in all these three works.This part,from the perspective of dislocated time and juxtaposed space mainly,analyzes the time and space strategy used by Churchill in her plays,and then explores Churchill's understanding ofcontemporary life more clearly.The third chapter explores the second manifestation of magic narrative: the grotesque and superposition of characters.In this part,the author analyzes Churchill's magical narrative strategy from the aspects of grotesque and superposition of characters.Churchill added some strange characters such as spirit,ghost and the characters in her works.At the same time,she made use of the role overlapping to break through the fixity of the actor and the role matching,which is unpredictable and makes it difficult to distinguish whether it is real or illusive,being full of strong artistry.The fourth chapter explores the third manifestation of magical narrative: the carnivalism of plots.The seemingly peaceful life hides people's distorted and repressed emotions.In order to excavate people's real desire from the orderly and peaceful life,Churchill liberated the human nature which had been imprisoned for a long time by magic means.In the drama,merging with monsters,ordinary humans felt the ultimate pleasure under violence.The soul and body confronted and talked directly,inspiring the cry of pain and even collapse inside the character.Churchill used the orgiastic plot and exaggerated stage moves,which brings the tension inherent in the drama to the extreme.The fifth chapter explores the aesthetic significance of Churchill's magical narrative.This chapter mainly explores three aspects of the magic narrative: the realization of the dialogue between the history and the contemporary,the externalization of the writer's inner experience and the breaking of the audience's horizon of expectation,and the in-depth exploration of Churchill's creative thoughts in the three works.The conclusion part summarizes the full text and puts forward the outlook.Through staggered space-time,weird characters,and orgiastic plots,Churchill showed the complex emotions of extreme depression in contemporary people,revealing inflexible and rigid social systems and possible paths to reshape social value systems.Churchill's experimental magical strategy provides a novel perspective on contemporary plays,but at the same time,this elite exploration also has someproblems for it is hard to understand.Churchill's drama not only inherits the magical narrative in the British literary tradition,but also conforms to the mission of British contemporary literature.Only with a deep understanding of the motivation and necessity of Churchill's use of magical narrative can we comprehend the picture of contemporary life she has drawn.And only with a deep understanding of the manifestation and aesthetic effects of Churchill's magical narrative can we further promote the insight and expressiveness of contemporary literature.