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CONTEMPORARY FOREIGN LITERATURE Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring 2014) ABSTRACTS Constructing One’s Own Universe: A Thematic Study of John Barth’s The Floating Opera ABSTRACT: Though nihilism is a major theme of John Barth’s The Floating Opera, as some scholars have observed, the novel reflects the author’s optimistic rather than pessimistic attitude towards life. This paper studies the novel thematically by focusing on its historical background and writing process. As an author with a strong sense of social and historical responsibilities, Barth explores the origins of the universe and the ultimate meaning of human life. Keywords: The Floating Opera, nihilism, nature of existence Author: Jiang Daochao < [email protected] > is a professor at School of Foreign Languages of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China (518060), specializing in modern and contemporary American literature. Every Third Thought and John Barth’s View of Contemporary Literature ABSTRACT: John Barth’s 2011 novel Every Third Thought embodies the author’s reflections upon contemporary literature. Firstly, Barth examines contemporary literature in the context of cultural history and expresses his view on high modernism by alluding to many literary figures of the period, thereby revealing the relationship between culture and literature and mapping out the contemporary literary scene. Secondly, through presenting a simulacrum of literary awards he expresses a pessimistic view of literary prizes. Thirdly, he evaluates his own position in literary history via parody and self-parody. Reviewing critical comments on the novel and referring to Barth’s own literary theory, this article closely reads Every Third Thought as a manifest critique of contemporary literature. Keywords: Every Third Thought, John Barth, contemporary literature, literary prize Author: Song Ming < [email protected] > is a PhD candidate at the School of Foreign Languages, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China (200062). Her research interest is in postmodern and contemporary literature. Hybridizing and Blending: Richard Powers’s Narrative Strategies ABSTRACT: As a leading figure of the new generation of American postmodernist novelists, Richard Powers has not only inherited the postmodernist tradition from his predecessors, but also complied with the information age to absorb a large quantity of scientific data into his fictional discourse, bridging the gap between science and art. This paper contends that by hybridizing and blending literary discourse with scientific discourse, postmodernism with realism, and narrative with essayistic writing, Powers blends literature with science and manages to resolve the postmodern narrative crisis, therefore making a successful defense of fiction in the information age. Keywords: Richard Powers, narrative strategy, hybridizing, blending Author: Sun Jian < [email protected] > is an associate professor at College of Foreign Languages, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China (710061). His major research area is contemporary British and American fiction. Approaching the Postmodern Technique of Narrative Collage in “The Leather Man” ABSTRACT: American postmodernist writer E. L. Doctorow effectively uses collages in his writings to highlight features of postmodern literature, namely fragmentation, disarray, marginalization and disunity. In his short story “The Leather Man”, Doctorow anatomizes modern American society and reveals its hidden truth through three types of collage, including the collage of narrative angels and discourses, the collage of historical events, and the collage of characters. Questioning “facts” to expose the lies of power politics and create a de-authorizing effect, the three types of collage impel readers to reconsider claims of historical truth and eventually realize that both texts and facts are constructed, planted in a certain social context and conspired by a certain interest group. Keywords: “The Leather Man”, collage, lie, dissimilation, degrading, disunity Authors: Long Yun < lovelife77@163. com > is an associate professor at School of English Language, Literature and Culture of Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China (100024), specializing in British and American literature, comparative literature and western literary criticism. Yang Meifang < 413361455@qq. com > is a postgraduate at School of English Language, Literature and Culture of Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China (100024), specializing in British and American literature. A Critical Survey of Norman Mailer Criticism ABSTRACT: Norman Mailer has received both positive and negative reviews from literary critics. This paper discusses four aspects of Mailer criticism, namely self-awareness, power, morality, and chauvinism, and addresses their blind spots. Keywords: Mailer, self-awareness, power, morality, chauvinism Author: Xu Meihua < [email protected] > is a lecturer at School of International Relations, Sichuan International Studies University, Chongqing, China (400031). Her academic interest is in British and American literature. Rewriting the Myth with Body Narrative: The Feminist Strategy of Political Criticism in The Love of the Nightingale ABSTRACT: Contemporary British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker rewrites the classical Greek myth of Tereus with the strategy of body narrative in her 1989 drama The Love of the Nightingale. The play casts limelight on the female body to show how women have been immured and disciplined by the power mechanisms of patriarchy and, more importantly, demonstrates the political potential of female body by exploring the possibilities and limits of women’s physical resistance. The act of myth rewriting thus achieves keen political significance and ethical value, confirming the body narrative as a key strategy in feminist criticism and activism. Keywords: The Love of the Nightingale, myth rewriting, body narrative, feminist criticism Authors: Chen Jing < [email protected] > is an associate professor at School of Foreign Studies, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China (230011), specializing in twentieth-century British and American drama; Hu Baoping < [email protected] > is a lecturer at School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China (510631), specializing in British drama and British literary criticism. Laying Down the Burdens: Existentialist Reflections through Heterogeneous Narrative in Weight ABSTRACT: As part of the “Myth Rewriting” series from Random House, Jeanette Winterson’s novel Weight rewrites myth to free its characters from existential burdens. In this novel the mythical Atlas casts the universe off his shoulders and the contemporary narrator keeps breaking away from traps in life through self-exile. Moreover, the novel itself casts aside the burdens of “Grand Narrative” and “Anxiety of Influence” by freely employing heterogeneous narrative methods. Through a mixture of polyphonic private narration, heteroglossia and dialogue between chronotopes, the novel reflects on the uniqueness of the individual, the absurdity of existence, the necessity of responsibility and the relativity of freedom, endowing the classical myth of Atlas with contemporary significance and renewed life. Keywords: Jeanette Winterson, Weight, myth rewriting, heterogeneous narrative, existentialism Author: Song Yanfang < [email protected] > is an associate professor of English at School of Foreign Languages, Soochow University, Suzhou, China (215006). Her academic interest is in British and American Literature. Class, Religion and Sex: Richard Mason’s History of a Pleasure Seeker as a Bildungsroman ABSTRACT: History of a Pleasure Seeker, the latest novel written by the “literary wunderkind” Richard Mason, integrates the seemingly disparate themes of class, religion and sex. As a Bildungsroman, the novel addresses the class conflicts between characters and the shackles imposed by religion upon humanity. Due to his personal charisma, Piet the protagonist successfully surpasses barriers of class and social hierarchy to rise to his own prominence, and in so doing frees Maarten, his master, from the fetters of religion to find his way back to humanity. Keywords: Richard Mason, Bildungsroman, History of a Pleasure Seeker, class, sex Author: Sun Shengzhong < [email protected] > is a professor at School of Foreign Languages of Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China (241002). His research interest is in British and American literature, focusing on Bildungsroman in recent years. Love and Mourning in Julian Barnes’ Levels of Life ABSTRACT: Julian Barnes’ recent memoir Levels of Life voices a writer’s meditation on the subject of love. Mourning the death of his wife, Barnes traces the universal journey of love as it soars into the sky, falls to the ground and finally is buried in the tomb. The exposure of this inevitable ending seems to deconstruct love, but the grief death brings about also fortifies one’s belief in love. Even though to love means to suffer, Barnes tells us, love is the only hope we have. Serving as a bond between history and individual, death and existence, mourning commemorates and cements love, making Levels of life a humanistic exploration into life and its eternal meaning. Keywords: Julian Barnes, Levels of Life, love, mourning Author: Zhang Li < [email protected] > is an associate professor of English at School of Foreign Languages, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China (450001). She specializes in British and American literature. Reconfiguring the Community