A Study On The Naturalistic Style Of George Moore’s A Mummer’s Wife

George Moore is an important British writer and critic of the late Victorian period who tirelessly explores the transitional period of English literature.The peak period of Moore’s creation coincides with the zenith of French naturalistic literature,as represented by Zola.A Mummer’s Wife is Moore’s early masterpiece and the first truly naturalistic novel in the history of British literature.This thesis adopts naturalism to analyze A Mummer’s Wife,holding that the novel embodies the three main naturalistic principles of scientificity,authenticity and objectivity and finding that Moore’s innovations in naturalism give the novel a vivid personal style.Firstly,the thesis analyzes the physiological and genetic factors in the novel and concludes that human instinct plays a significant role in the tragic fate of the protagonist,Kate.Naturalism introduces genetics,physiology and other natural sciences into literary creation,showing that people cannot be immune to the influence of natural laws,thus making the work scientific.Secondly,it demonstrates the authenticity of the novel through analyzing the real writing material,the detailed description of settings and the violation of moral taboos.Then it discusses the narrator’s retreat from moral judgement and the employment of free indirect speech in the novel,which endows the work with objectivity owing to the impersonal narrative and leaves more room for readers’ value judgement.Finally,the thesis explores Moore’s advancement in naturalistic techniques.Moore does not fully copy Zola’s naturalistic theory but particularly emphasizes the characters’ psychological changes and employs impressionistic techniques to depiction,making the novel different from Zola’s dull records and showing more personal characteristics.The thesis points out that the novel A Mummer’s Wife has distinct naturalistic characteristics.While reflecting reality with a scientific view and an objective attitude,Moore also uses personal artistic techniques to place the characters in a specific era,showing their physiological and psychological changes in the vicissitudes of life,thus reproducing real individuals and the social landscape of the whole era.