An Equal Pair: The Dialogic Narrative Scheme in Bleak House
1
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
Generally, the parts narrated by Esther in Bleak House has been considered less convincing and reliable than those by the anonymous narrator for some problematic qualities in her character and narration. However, Esther’s narrative shows Dickens’ masterly depiction of emotional deprivation, the psychic consequences of the Victorian sexual repression on its victim. Therefore, to restore the reliability of Esther’s narrative is the prerequisite for claiming its value as an appropriate locus of the meanings of the text. On the other hand, the anonymous narrator is not so omniscient as he has been regarded. As the chapters proceed, his omniscient power and authority is conspicuously weakened, and even transferred to other characters such as Esther and Mr. Bucket. This shows that the identity of the omniscient voice is unstable and that Dickens does not intend his voice to be the sole center of meanings of the text. In short, these two narratives are the necessary partners in imagining and understanding the society in its wholeness. Alternating and sometimes intersecting each other throughout the novel, these opposing viewpoints make us see the contradictory multi-leveledness of the Victorian society. The equality of them implies Dickens’ notion that more than single unified voice is needed to portray ideological conflicts of his age.
Abstract
Generally, the parts narrated by Esther in Bleak House has been considered less convincing and reliable than those by the anonymous narrator for some problematic qualities in her character and narration. However, Esther’s narrative shows Dickens’ masterly depiction of emotional deprivation, the psychic consequences of the Victorian sexual repression on its victim. Therefore, to restore the reliability of Esther’s narrative is the prerequisite for claiming its value as an appropriate locus of the meanings of the text. On the other hand, the anonymous narrator is not so omniscient as he has been regarded. As the chapters proceed, his omniscient power and authority is conspicuously weakened, and even transferred to other characters such as Esther and Mr. Bucket. This shows that the identity of the omniscient voice is unstable and that Dickens does not intend his voice to be the sole center of meanings of the text. In short, these two narratives are the necessary partners in imagining and understanding the society in its wholeness. Alternating and sometimes intersecting each other throughout the novel, these opposing viewpoints make us see the contradictory multi-leveledness of the Victorian society. The equality of them implies Dickens’ notion that more than single unified voice is needed to portray ideological conflicts of his age.
참고문헌 (19)
- Axton, William, "The Trouble with Esther", Modern Language Quarterly, 26, pp.545~557 (1965)
- Dickens, Charles, "Bleak House. 1853" (1986), Penguin
- Donovan, Robert A., "Structure and Idea in Bleak House", ELH, 29, pp.175~201 (1962)
- Fletcher, LuAnn McCraken, "A Recipe for Perversion: The Feminine Narrative Challenge in Bleak House", Dickens Studies Annual, 25, pp.67~89 (1996)
- Heady, Emily, "The Polis’s Different Voices: Narrating England’s Progress in Dickens’s Bleak House", Texas Studies in Literature and Language, 48(4), pp.312~339 (2006)
- Herst, Beth, "The Dickens Hero" (1990), Weidenfeld
- Jaffe, Audrey, "Omniscience in Our Mutual Friend: On taking the Reader by Surprise", The Journal of Narrative Technique, 17, pp.91~101 (1987)
- Johnson, Edgar, "Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph, vol. 2" (1952), Simon
- Kelley, Alice van Buren, "The Bleak Houses of Bleak House", Nineteenth Century Fiction, 25, pp.253~268 (1970)
- Kennedy, Valerie, "Bleak House: More Trouble with Esther", Journal of Women’s Studies in Literature, 1, pp.330~347 (1979)
- McClure, Joyce Kloc, "Seeing Through the Fog: Love and Injustice in Bleak House", Journal of Religious Ethics, 31(1), pp.23~44 (2003)
- McCusker, Jane A., "The Game Esther Plays — Chapter Three of Bleak House", The Dickensian, 81, pp.163~174 (1985)
- Sawicki, Joseph, "‘The Mere Truth Won’t Do’: Esther as Narrator in Bleak House", Journal of Narrative Technique, 17, pp.209~224 (1987)
- Smalley, Ann, "Crossing the Gulfs: The Importance of the Master-Servant Relationship in Dickens’s Bleak House", Dickensian, 85, pp.151~160 (1989)
- Stuchebrukhov, Olga, "Bleak House as an Allegory of a Middle-class Nation", Dickens Quarterly, 23, pp.147~168 (2006)
- Teukolsky, Rachel, "Pictures in Bleak Houses: Slavery and the Aesthetics of Transatlantic Reform", ELH, 76, pp.491~522 (2009)
- Wilson, Angus, "The World of Dickens" (1970), Viking Press
- Wilt, Judith, "Confusion and Consciousness in Dickens’ Esther", Nineteenth Century Fiction, 32, pp.285~309 (1977)
- Zwerdling, Alex, "Esther Summerson Rehabilitated", PMLA, 88, pp.429~439 (1973)