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On the Narrative Art in Life of Johnson

Author: CaiXiangFan
Tutor: LiLanSheng
School: Central South University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Johnson Boswell Life of Johnson narrative structure narrative time narrative point of view
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Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2007
Downloads: 114
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Abstract

Life of Johnson is a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell, published in 1791. Johnson is undoubtedly a brilliant essayist, English poet, critic, journalist, lexicographer, conversationalist and wit. It has long been traditional to refer to the second half of the 18th century as "the age of Johnson". Although Johnson is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of 18th-century, the preservation of this reputation is largely due to Boswell’s Life of Johnson, which is regarded as an important milestone and the foundation of modern biography. To some extent, without the great success of Life of Johnson, it will be impossible to have Johnson in the history with such a noble image.Narratology is an independent theory mainly employed in fictional analysis. But, nobody can deny that biography is within the scope of Narratology. As a narrative text with both trueness and falseness, in various dimensions, the narrative art of biography has not only connections but also differences to that of novels. Based on Life of Johnson, the present thesis focuses on the biographic artistry reflected through its narrative structure, narrative time, and narrative perspective.Chapter 1 discusses the features of the narrative structure in Life of Johnson. Narrative structure is the core of a narrative work, which captains the whole work macroscopically. Generally speaking, the narrative structure of Life of Johnson does not betray the traditional narrative model of a biography. Its single-track structure tells us a story about the life of one man, from the cradle to the grave. Its panoramic narrative structure pierces through the narration of only one man and one event, and it is not confined itself to the close continuity of the plots. Boswell usually cuts the line with numerous non-narrative discourses, which break down the old traditional single-track narrative model and makes the narrative structure richer and more colorful, the narrative content more genuine and vivid.Chapter 2 probes into the features of the narrative time in Life of Johnson. The time order of Life of Johnson is arranged in chronological order, whose main clue runs through the life course of the biographee, from his birth to his death. Nevertheless, in order to show some occasional factors in the life of the biographee, with the help of flashback and flashforward, the narration sometimes breaks through the natural order, making clear the cause and effect in the events. Or it adopts flashforward to bring forth the narration more complete and more vivid, which helps to make the biography full of authenticity, historicity and the features of literature. As to the narrative duration, four types of narrative skills are employed, which lead to the ceaseless undulation of the narrative tempo and plot density.Chapter 3 expounds the features of the narrative perspective in Life of Johnson. Multiple points of view are adopted in this biography. The omniscient third-person point of view can run through the confines of the narrator’s knowledge, in which the narrator is something of an all-knowing, all-seeing omnipotent and omniscient God. He is apt to approach the thoughts and actions of each character, as if God were telling the story personally. The biographer is both the narrator and commentator who is capable to take the history, the present and the future into his visual field. The first-person narration shows us the importance of the biographer to the biogrphee in his life, and the everlasting affection between them, which, undoubtedly, enhance the emotional color in the narration.The characteristics reflected through the three narrative skills discussed above in Life of Johnson makes out that the flexibility in the use of the various narrative structures, the reasonable arrangement of narrative time, and the fusion of the multiple narrative perspectives show us an extraordinary literary giant in the classical period in Britain. It is the superb and the unique narrative art in Life of Johnson that makes this massive work into the immortal classic since the 18th century biographic literature.

On the Narrative Art in Life of Johnson

Abstract

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