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? Make Sure The Reader Knows It? s A? Make Sure The Reader Knows It?
s A Pretence? How Successfully Does Fowles Follow His Own Advice? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The French Lieutenant? s Woman is full of enigmas, many of which remain unanswered by the author. One of the most fascinating of these is that of how seriously Fowles wants the reader to take his book. This is to say, how much does he want the reader to believe in the events and characters presented in the framework of the story.
It is difficult to be entirely sure, as Fowles changes his method of storytelling constantly. One of the principal devices he employs is his dual? authorship? . One narrator seems to be a Victorian novelist, and the other seems to be Fowles himself writing in Lyme Regis in 1967. Each of these voices is very different and is used by the author to put forward contrasting themes and ideas. Occasionally the two narrators overlap and we are left even more confused as to who is speaking and if we are meant to believe in the story.
Ultimately, Fowles succeeds in making sure the reader knows " its a pretence" . ? The important question remains, however, ? as to why on earth would he want to create this uncertainty in the first place? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The Victorian narrator presents himself as a straightforward storyteller in the Victorian tradition. This reflects one of the main points behind Fowles?
s book; that one can choose to read it in various ways: as a story; as a social commentary; as a critical essay on Victorian values and way of life; as a pastiche of the Victorian novel which pays tribute to, whilst at the same time satirizing the genre; as a critique of the Victorian novel or as a comparison between the Victorian and modern age. The book is all of these things and one can choose to take all of them into account when reading it, or disregard all but one. In providing us with the straightforward storyteller, Fowles caters for those who simply want follow the story. This is the reason for the Victorian narrator? s wish to convince us that all he says is true. He wants, just like any real Victorian author, such as Thackeray, to make his readers accept his morals and views and to lose themselves in the fabric of events which make up the story.
He does this in a number of ways, the most obvious being comments such as, ? Meanwhile, Charles can get up to London on his own? . In including this kind of thing, the narrator does much to persuade us that all he writes of is genuine and actually happened. However, the Victorian voice can be taken another way.
While one could understand it to be a storyteller, it is also a very clever pastiche of the Victorian way of writing. Fowles includes many nuances which add to the authenticity of this pastiche such as his constant intrusions into the flow of the story to explain certain references or explain the situation. A good example of this would be when he explains the dubious behaviour of rural women in the Nineteenth Century in chapter 35, or when he talks about the widespread prostitution in London in the Victorian era. This last example opens up yet another of the book? s roles: the one of the social commentary. The chapters that contain these pieces of information could almost be taken in themselves as essays on the Victorian age.
The way in which these commentaries are presented makes them seem very like essays, with? footnotes discussing such things as the first time? sheaths (of sausage skin)? were on sale. ? Indeed Fowles himself draws our attention to this idea in his first major intrusion into the story in chapter 13: " Or perhaps I am trying to pass off a concealed book of essays onto you? . Within these discussions there lie deeper and more incisive points about the Victorian age.
For example, Chapter 35 could be read as an essay on Victorian hypocrisy. In doing this, the narrator has at the same time backed up the realism of the story but he has also detracted from it. He has provided us with accurate information which helps us to understand the context of his narrative, but he has also distracted our attention away from the story. All this shows that, whilst Fowles is keen to keep the illusion of the story up in the form of the Victorian narrator, he also makes sure that the illusion can be broken if the reader so wishes. It all depends on how the book is read. Some may?
prefer to skip? the references to Victorian life entirely and to follow the story. Thus the Harper Collins audio tape of The French Lieutenant? s Woman entirely misses out all of Fowles? s intrusions and concentrates solely on the story told us by the Victorian narrator. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yet more of this conflict between reality and fiction lies in the fact that the second narrator, that is Fowles himself, does all he can to dispel the reality of the story his Victorian alter ego has created.
The best example of this appears in Chapter 13. Up until now we have been reading a cleverly written, but more or less straightforward story. Thus we are surprised and shocked by the sudden change of tack when Fowles suddenly intrudes into the narrative. ? I do not know. The story I am telling is all imagination? . This tells us in very plain language that the whole book is?
a pretence? . Thus Fowles makes sure that the reader understands this fact. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Fowles continues to intrude as a Twentieth Century author throughout the novel, though not in such an obvious way as in chapter 13. An example lies in Chapter 25, ? I am overdoing the exclamation marks? .
In doing this he, not only constantly breaks the illusion, but he also provides us with a twentieth century viewpoint in the story. This provides an antithesis to the Victorian viewpoint that is put forward by the first narrator and also adds to the sense of pretence in two ways. The first is the logistical impossibility of a 20 th century viewpoint in a novel set in the 19 th century, the second is the way in which his intrusions disrupt the flow of the story. By talking about the book, ?
The History of the Human Heart? which he found when, ? nosing recently around one of the best kind of second hand booksellers? he draws attention away from the story and disrupts the world which the reader is inhabiting whilst reading the book. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? However, by including this he also, in a way, reinforces the realism. There are numerous examples of this throughout the book, but the most interesting is when he claims to own the same Toby Jug as Sarah bought in Exeter even though he, ?
unlike her? fell for the Ralph Leigh part of it? . By saying this he tries to persuade the reader that the characters actually existed and that it is a true story. Fowles? s other great intrusion is in Chapter 44, when provides us with a? thoroughly traditional ending?
and tells us that Charles and Ernestina? did not live happily ever after? and? begat what shall it be- let us say seven children? and that Sam and Mary? married, and bred, and died, in the monotonous fashion of their kind? . ?
By writing this ending in a throwaway and careless style and not being as precise about details as he has been in the rest of the book, Fowles suggests that? it is all a pretence? . It goes against all the attempts of the Victorian narrator to convince us that all the events he describes are true. However, Fowles once more contradicts himself in the next chapter when he admits that actually, ? all (he) has described in the last two chapters? did not happen quite in the way (we) might have been led to believe? .
He then goes on to tell us the rest of the story until we get to the last two chapters in which he provides us with two possible conclusions to the book. Not only does this show conclusively that the events in the book have been fictional despite both narrator? s efforts to convince us to the contrary, as it is impossible for people to live two lives, but it also fits in with one of the other aims of the book, that of juxtaposing the Victorian and modern novel. The fact that the book has three endings shows that Fowles has tried to make it a very modernist novel, in stark contrast to the Victorian side of his book, as there would never be more that one ending in a Nineteenth Century novel.
It also deals very nicely with the existentialist ideas that have been presented throughout the book, that one should? know thyself? and make your own decisions on how to live your life. Throughout the book, Charles has been a very Victorian character in a Victorian framework, but all the time he is striving to become more modern, as Sarah surely is. In two of these endings he fails at this goal, it is only when he meets his child that he can take the first step towards the Twentieth? Century. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Therefore, in conclusion it can be said that, ultimately, Fowles does make sure the reader knows? it? s a pretence? . However, it is not made easy by the fact he constantly contradicts himself. Fowles, in the guise of the Victorian story teller tries to convince you that it is all true, and then, in the guise of a modern writer, he tries his best to make it clear that it is all a pretence and his real motive for writing the story is to make a number of points o about the Victorian age and modern novel and the conflict between them. It is made even more confusing by the fact that sometimes even the modern novelist contradicts himself again to try to tell us that it is all genuine, for example the Toby Jug.
However, despite all this confusion, we have chapter thirteen and the multiple endings to prove to us that it is, indeed, ? a pretence? . ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Now we have established that Fowles follows his own advice very successfully, the question remains as to why? he chooses to create the complication in the first place? It cannot be simply that he wants to show himself to be a clever writer (although that he clearly is), but that he wants to make a point about the modern novel. Traditionally the reader is encouraged to immerse himself fully in the story and suspend his disbelief, but Fowles wants to stop the reader from being lulled into this passive state, so he creates all the devices discussed above to keep the reader on his toes and attentive.
Thus he turns the passive reader into an active one. He does not wish the reader to take the easy option of believing completely in the environment he creates and so he intervenes constantly with reminders that it is all a pretence, and in doing so keeps the reader alert and makes the experience that much more demanding. Word Count: 1, 861 Bibliography The French Lieutenants Woman by John Fowles The Modern British Novel by
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Research essay sample on Narrator Nineteenth Century
