A Study Of The Dual Narrative Progression In The Summer Before The Dark

Doris Lessing(1919-2013)is one of the most acclaimed British women writers of the twentieth century,the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature,and considered to be the next outstanding female writer after Virginia Woolf.Throughout her life,Lessing ponders social issues such as racism,cultural conflict,and gender relations.And her concern for the fate of women,their existential plight,and their spiritual world is a constant theme in many of her works.The Summer Before the Dark,published in 1973,is an exemplary reflection on the fate of modern women.The novel is rated by the New York Times as the best novel since Marquez?s One Hundred Years of Solitude.This novel tells the story of Kate,a middle-aged woman facing a crisis of identity,who suddenly breaks out of the norm and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.This constitutes the overt plot of the novel.However,research has found that there is a parallel covert progression behind the overt plot,that is,the covert progression of the seal from stranding to returning to the sea.Although there are some research results from the perspective of narratology,there is a lack of research on the complexity of the novel plot.Therefore,this study will draw on Professor Shen Dan?s theory of dual narrative progression,and analyze the dual narrative progression in The Summer Before the Dark: overt plot and covert progression based on the close reading of the text,to explore the complexity of characterization and the rich thematic meaning of the work.This thesis is divided into four chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,which mainly introduces the author Doris Lessing and her works,the research status of The Summer Before Dark,research methods,research purpose,and the research framework of this thesis.The second chapter focuses on the overt plot of Kate?s realistic journey.According to Sartre?s existentialism theory,it analyzes how Kate,the heroine,freely chooses to determine her own value of existence when facing the absurd world.At the same time,she has the courage to bear the corresponding responsibilities,and finally finishes her self-growth journey.The third chapter mainly draws on Professor Shen Dan?s“covert progression” to analyze the narrative undercurrent of Kate?s dream journey that develops in parallel behind the overt plot of Kate?s summer journey,and reveals the whole process of Kate from inner confusion to the ultimate realization of self-redemption.The last part is the conclusion.Through the comparative analysis of the two narrative movements,the overt plot and the covert progression,this paper points out that the theme of self-salvation of the seal dream is complementary to the theme of self-growth of the summer journey.Therefore,the dual narrative movement deepens the thematic meaning of the novel and solves the problem of the incoherence of a large number of dreams scattered in the text.The two narrative progressions jointly shape the female image of Kate?s getting out of the predicament and returning to the family,and the dual return of body and spirit reflects her integration with society.This study is helpful to break through the shackles of only focusing on the development of overt plot,and present the author?s superb and innovative in characterization and theme expression.