Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion
The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion (TGS) by Ford Maddox Ford is one of the earliest examples of the Modernist Period in English Literature. Written in 1915 and set just before the Great War, the novel is about two couples, an aristocratic English couple (Edward and Leonora Ashburnham) and a wealthy...
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Selcuk University Press
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi |
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| Online Access: | http://sefad.selcuk.edu.tr/sefad/article/view/881/711 |
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| author | Şule Okuroğlu Özün |
| author_facet | Şule Okuroğlu Özün |
| author_sort | Şule Okuroğlu Özün |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion (TGS) by Ford Maddox Ford is one of the earliest examples of the Modernist Period in English Literature. Written in 1915 and set just before the Great War, the novel is about two couples, an aristocratic English couple (Edward and Leonora Ashburnham) and a wealthy American couple (John and Florence Dowell), who meet at a spa in Nauheim, Germany in 1904. John Dowell, as the involved first-person narrator, tells the story that revolves around Edward’s and Florence’s inability to remain faithful to their partners, Edward’s love affair with several women, Edward’s refusal to give up his idealized dream of living as a Victorian gentleman, and John Dowell’s struggle with how to interpret and narrate all these events. Although the themes of the novel are like typical Victorian issues, unlike its Victorian predecessors, the novel lacks omniscient narration and depends on frequent shifting of emotional impressions and views of its narrator. Thus, what makes the novel interesting and its interpretation difficult is the unconventional narrator who brings impressionistic storytelling into play as a narrative technique, and who, for the readers, offers this method as an alternative to changing social order, personal integrity and conventional novel form. The aim of this paper is to discuss how Dowell’s unreliable narrative technique creates a mimetic illusion which makes the reader an active participant in Dowell’s writing of the story. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dd76d290b1124e80bb5f9aa7ea6e52e8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1300-4921 2458-908X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Selcuk University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi |
| spelling | doaj-art-dd76d290b1124e80bb5f9aa7ea6e52e82025-08-20T02:21:30ZengSelcuk University PressSelçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi1300-49212458-908X2018-06-013922123210.21497/sefad.443496Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of PassionŞule Okuroğlu Özün The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion (TGS) by Ford Maddox Ford is one of the earliest examples of the Modernist Period in English Literature. Written in 1915 and set just before the Great War, the novel is about two couples, an aristocratic English couple (Edward and Leonora Ashburnham) and a wealthy American couple (John and Florence Dowell), who meet at a spa in Nauheim, Germany in 1904. John Dowell, as the involved first-person narrator, tells the story that revolves around Edward’s and Florence’s inability to remain faithful to their partners, Edward’s love affair with several women, Edward’s refusal to give up his idealized dream of living as a Victorian gentleman, and John Dowell’s struggle with how to interpret and narrate all these events. Although the themes of the novel are like typical Victorian issues, unlike its Victorian predecessors, the novel lacks omniscient narration and depends on frequent shifting of emotional impressions and views of its narrator. Thus, what makes the novel interesting and its interpretation difficult is the unconventional narrator who brings impressionistic storytelling into play as a narrative technique, and who, for the readers, offers this method as an alternative to changing social order, personal integrity and conventional novel form. The aim of this paper is to discuss how Dowell’s unreliable narrative technique creates a mimetic illusion which makes the reader an active participant in Dowell’s writing of the story.http://sefad.selcuk.edu.tr/sefad/article/view/881/711Ford Maddox FordThe Good Soldier: A Tale of Passionunreliable narratorJohn Dowellimpressionistic narrative |
| spellingShingle | Şule Okuroğlu Özün Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi Ford Maddox Ford The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion unreliable narrator John Dowell impressionistic narrative |
| title | Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion |
| title_full | Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion |
| title_fullStr | Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion |
| title_short | Narrative Unreliability in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion |
| title_sort | narrative unreliability in the good soldier a tale of passion |
| topic | Ford Maddox Ford The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion unreliable narrator John Dowell impressionistic narrative |
| url | http://sefad.selcuk.edu.tr/sefad/article/view/881/711 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT suleokurogluozun narrativeunreliabilityinthegoodsoldierataleofpassion |