Narrative Devices and Structure in 'the French Lieutenant's Woman' and 'Our Country's Good'
‘Writers often experiment with narrative devices and structures in order to challenge readers’ expectations of genre and their view of the outside world’
Compare and contrast your two texts in light of this comment
Genre is generally defined as a category of composition, characterized by a number of similarities in form, style or subject matter. Naturally with genre, expectations arise, as the reader or an audience come to expect certain things either when reading text or watching a play. Writers who choose to write within a chosen genre therefore are expected to write in a particular style, so any writer who operates outside the typical boundaries of their genre will naturally challenge a reader’s future expectations of that genre. Writers may choose, whether they operate within the genre or attempt to stretch its limitations, to deliver a message to the reader on a certain topic. The aim of that message is to influence the reader’s view on the subject matter of which they speak. A successful writer will therefore be able to change a reader’s view on the outside world.
‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ is a novel written by John Fowles in 1969. It is one of his best and most loved novels and is set 100 years before the time he wrote it, giving the immediate impression that is a Victorian novel. At the time, writing was heavily influenced by gothic and romantic ideals; writing tended to have a very melodramatic plot, a central moral message and an idealized portrait of difficult lives in which hard work and love ultimately prevail. However, writing did become more complex as the Victorian period continued and an estimated 1869 setting means Fowles would have probably been thinking of this more complex Victorian writing. Similarly to Fowles, Timberlake Wertenbaker set ‘Our Country’s Good’ long before her time, setting it in the 18th century. The genre is historical play as it is essentially a rewriting of the novel ‘The Playmaker’ by Thomas Keneally and is
Compare and contrast your two texts in light of this comment
Genre is generally defined as a category of composition, characterized by a number of similarities in form, style or subject matter. Naturally with genre, expectations arise, as the reader or an audience come to expect certain things either when reading text or watching a play. Writers who choose to write within a chosen genre therefore are expected to write in a particular style, so any writer who operates outside the typical boundaries of their genre will naturally challenge a reader’s future expectations of that genre. Writers may choose, whether they operate within the genre or attempt to stretch its limitations, to deliver a message to the reader on a certain topic. The aim of that message is to influence the reader’s view on the subject matter of which they speak. A successful writer will therefore be able to change a reader’s view on the outside world.
‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ is a novel written by John Fowles in 1969. It is one of his best and most loved novels and is set 100 years before the time he wrote it, giving the immediate impression that is a Victorian novel. At the time, writing was heavily influenced by gothic and romantic ideals; writing tended to have a very melodramatic plot, a central moral message and an idealized portrait of difficult lives in which hard work and love ultimately prevail. However, writing did become more complex as the Victorian period continued and an estimated 1869 setting means Fowles would have probably been thinking of this more complex Victorian writing. Similarly to Fowles, Timberlake Wertenbaker set ‘Our Country’s Good’ long before her time, setting it in the 18th century. The genre is historical play as it is essentially a rewriting of the novel ‘The Playmaker’ by Thomas Keneally and is