?Make Sure The Reader Knows It?s A Pretence? How Successfully Does Fowles Follow His Own Advice Essay, Research Paper
??????????????? 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 "it’s 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 satirising 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 20th century viewpoint in a novel set in the 19th
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 oabout 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: 1,861Bibliography The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles The Modern British Novel by