The Role of the Narrator in Selected First-Person Novels R H C. l i b r a r y CLASS 801:3321 Ko Pgivl A .:. ' 0. ! big, ffefe DateA^O. Q ^ A thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by SANDRA GAYE PENNEY Royal Holloway College 260 331218 4 ProQuest Number: 10097862 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10097862 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the Rothermere Foundation for their finan­ cial assistance which enabled me to study in Britain and my adviser, Robert Hanpson, of Royal Holloway College, for his unfailing kindness and penetrating criticism. CONTENTS Abstract I Introduction II (i) Preface to the selected works of H. G. Wells (ii) The Time Machine (iii) The Island of Dr. Moreau (iv) Tono-Bungay (v) The New Machiavelli III (i) Preface to the selected Conrad novels (ii) Heart of Darkness (iii) Lord Jim (iv) Chance IV A. (i) Introduction to the Art Trilogy; (ii) Herself Surprised (iii) To Be a Pilgrim (iv) The Horse's Mouth B. (i) Introduction to the Political Trilogy; Joyce. Ca.r^ (ii) Prisoner of Grace (iii) Except the Lord (iv) Not Honour More V (i) Preface to The Alexandria Quartet : (ii) The Alexandria Quartet VI (i) Preface to the selected Fowles's novels (ii) The Collector (iii) The Nfagus (iv) Daniel Martin VII Conclusion Bibliography ABSTRACT The introduction to this thesis discusses and evaluates first-person nar­ ration in the context of point of view generally. As part of the criti­ cal background to the study, attention is drawn to the Critical Prefaces of Henry James and the experiments he made with point of view in specific novels. Reference is made to the commentary by Joseph Beach on the is­ sues James raises. Technical terms relating to first-person narration - for example, primary and secondary narrators, the reliable narrator, the frame narrator, composite narration and the Chinese box device - are de­ fined. Norman Friedman's classification of point of view is also dis­ cussed. An important distinction between the narrator as witness and the narrator as protagonist is considered but the thesis argues against sim- plistically categorizing the narrator in this way. Finally, Percy Lub­ bock's key objections to first-person narration are considered and the advantages and disadvantages of first-person narration are discussed. Selected novels by H. G. Wells, Joseph Conrad, Joyce Cary, Lawrence Durrell and John Fowles are used to illustrate different aspects of first-person narration. Chapter Two deals with Wells's scientific ro­ mances, The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, which use first person to achieve plausibility in fantastic situations, and his realistic novels, Tono-Bungay and The New Machiavelli which show contrasting uses of the narrator. Tono-Bungay is a successful memoir novel in which the narrator functions primarily as observer to give a panoramic survey of his society; The New Machiavelli fails and its failure stems largely from Wells's use of first person. Its narrator attempts to portray both his age and himself objectively. The confused and uncritical portrayal is exacerbated by Wells's identification with the narrator. 5 Chapter Three deals with three of Conrad's novels: Heart of Dark­ ness, Lord Jim and Chance. The first two demonstrate that one cannot always distinguish between the narrator as observer and as protagonist for in both novels, Marlow may be seen to perform a dual function. In Chance, however, Marlow is sirrply an observing narrator whose role is to show how fictions may be created. While the Conrad novels only acciden­ tally form a trilogy, Cary's use of the trilogy format is deliberate. Chapter Four examines his art and political trilogies. Although the point of view is consistent within each novel, one can observe the changes in point of view from one volume to another. Each volume of a given trilogy presents a different perspective. In the chapter on Cary, I will therefore discuss ambiguity and the problematical nature of truth which look forward to issues raised by Durrell and Fowles. None of Cary's narrators develop but in The Alexandria Quartet, the subject of Chapter Five, Durrell uses a developing narrator to explore the problem of achieving truth. Different subjective realities are pre­ sented in relation to the psychologist, Georg Groddeck. As in Chance, the creation of fiction is an important theme, but Durrell approaches it differently. John Fowles's novels. The Collector, The Magus and Daniel Martin are discussed in Chapter Six. The Collector is chosen to explore the bal­ anced use of antiphonal narration using contrasting narrators. The Magus relates to The Alexandria Quartet for both use developing characters as narrators and both are about the creation of fictions. Durrell, however, expresses this theme in terms of a narrator who is the subject of his own narrative while Fowles expresses it in terms of the relationship of the reader to the novel. The theme of Daniel Martin is again the creation of fictions. This time, Fowles alternates between first and third-person narration to draw attention to the relationship between the author and the novel. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION I. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of the narrator in selected first-person novels. These consist of The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Tono-Bungay and The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells; Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and Chance by Joseph Conrad; Herself Sur­ prised, The Horse's Mouth, To Be A Pilgrim, Prisoner of Grace, Except the Lord and Not Honour More by Joyce Cary; The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell; and The Collector, The Magus and Daniel Martin by John Fowles. Some excellent work has already been done on the technical as­ pects of first-person narration, most notably by Bertil Romberg in Studies in the Narrative Technique of the First-Person Novel.^ His work includes succinct definitions of key concepts, (first-person novel, the composite novel and the Chinese box device) and provides an historical survey of different types of first-person novel - the memoir novel, the diary novel and the epistolary novel - tracing their roots back to the oral epic tradition and analyzing in depth four novels from as many cen­ turies to show the function of the devices and forms discussed. My own approach differs from Romberg's because while technical considerations are inevitable they are used to facilitate an appreciation of the nar­ rator's role; Romberg, in contrast, gives greater priority to technique and its illustration in appropriate works. First-person narration is subsumed in the larger topic, point of 1. Bertil Romberg, Studies in the Narrative Technique of the First- Person Novel (Lund, Sweden: Hakan Ohlssons Boktryckeri, 1962). 7 view. Therefore, a consideration of this technical issue and its his­ tory provides a relevant and useful preamble. The phrase, "point of 2 view", first appeared in the British Quarterly Review of July 1866 but the concept received scant attention until Henry James discussed it in his Critical Prefaces.^ J. W. Beach in The Method of Henry James ex­ plains this term: I use the term "point of view" to designate what is sometimes called the "angle of vision" from which the scene is surveyed in a given chapter of a book, - whether that of an omniscient au­ thor ready to enter into the minds of all the characters at once as well as to describe them objectively, or, on the contrary, that of some person in the story who sees whatever is to be seen by him, and interprets all that he sees by the light of his own mind and vision. The limitation of the point of view to the vi­ sion of one person is thus a "mechanical" device for securing certain sorts of effects sought by the author.4 In writing his novels, one of James's prime structural considerations was point of view. In The Prefaces of Henry James, Leon Edel indicates the high priority James assigns it: The first stage in the construction of a novel, for James, was always the determination of the point of view. Wlio is to tell the story, or see it? From what angle is the subject to be ap­ proached? How are its "values" to be realized? In whose con­ sciousness are we to follow the incidents? Who is to be the "Centre"?5 James was the first critic to argue the necessity of a consistent point of view. At the same time, he was very critical of first-person narration. In his preface to The Ambassadors, he said: "the first 2. R. Stang, The Theor^^ of the Novel in England 1850-1870, (London: 1959), p. 107. (Stang finds the earliest use of the term "point of view" in a review of July, 1866 in British Quarterly Review XIV, pp, 43-44. The increasing use of technical handbooks early in the twen­ tieth century helped popularize the concept of point of view, and make it an irrportant new term in the critical vocabulary).