摘 要

《何去何从》是美国当代女作家乔伊斯·卡罗尔·欧茨的短篇小说代表作。该小说用第三人称叙事方式讲述了一个青年女孩康妮一步一步被诱惑、恐吓，乃至最后被威胁生命的故事，在叙事技巧上充分体现了欧茨式的特点。本论文主要从叙事视角、对话模式、开放式结尾三方面对小说的叙事技巧进行了分析，旨在展示欧茨高超的创作技巧和艺术魅力。

关键词：乔伊斯·卡罗尔·欧茨；《何去何从》；叙事技巧

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………...7

2. Demonstration……………………………………………………………………...8

2.1 narrative perspective……………………………………………………………....8

2.1.1 Limited third-person narrative perspective……………………………………...9

2.1.2 Significance of the employment of limited third-person narrative perspective..10

2.2 Dialogue mode…………………………………………………………………...11

2.2.1 Overt dialogue mode-direct speech…………………………………………….12

2.2.2 Self-dialogue mode-internal monologue……………………………………….13

2.3 Open ending……………………………………………………………………...14

2.3.1Open ending employed in the story.....................................................................15

2.3.2 Significance of the employment of open ending………………………………16

3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...17

Works Cited………………………………………………………………………….18

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….19

Narrative Techniques in Oates’s Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

1. Introduction

Joyce Carol Oates (June 16, 1938-) is an American author, poet, editor and literary critic. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over forty novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She was born in Lockport, New York. Oates became interested in reading at an early age. She regarded Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a gift book from her grandmother, as "the great treasure of my childhood, and the most profound literary influence of my life. This was love at first sight!" (Oates, 14) Oates’s career as a writer began with the publication of With Shuddering Fall (1964). She is widely regarded as one of the most important writers in modern America. The New York Times wrote in 1989 that Oates's "name is synonymous with productivity". The representative works of her short stories are: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, In a Region of Ice and The Cousins.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been was first published in 1966. This story is loosely based on the serial killer Charles Schmid, also known as “The Pied Piper of Tucson”. It has been anthologized many times and adapted as a film. In 2008, Oates said that of all her published work, she is most noted for Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been. (Truman, 29) This story is told in the third person point of view. Through the description in the third person’s point of view, it shows objectively readers an evil story and the reality of America. As a masterpiece of Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been has received wide critical attention and been studied from different perspectives. Considerable overseas academic analysis has been written about this story, with scholars divided on whether it is intended to be taken literally or as allegory. At present, many literary scholars focus on the series of numbers written on Friend’s car. In addition, the narrative has also been viewed as an allegory for initiation into sexual adulthood, an encounter with the devil, a critique of modern youth's obsession with sexual themes in popular music, or as a dream sequence. Studies of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been in China are much less than those in foreign countries. Many critics in China prefer Oates’s full-length novel to her short fictions. As to Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, literary scholars pay more attention to the feminism it indicates and the background. Although more and more Chinese scholars start to realize the importance of Oates, their studies are less creative and insightful with the comparison of the overseas study.

Despite Oates’s full-length novels, her short stories are well worth being studied. As an author whose name is synonymous with productivity, she has now been regarded as the representative of modern American literature. Her works including Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been are famous for revealing the violence and crime of American society and considered as the panorama of America society. As a result, many literary critics in home focus only on the meaning behind the text itself. Actually, the narrative techniques deserve a lot of attention. Like Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, its glamorous narration cannot be ignored. The option of narrative perspective, the adoption of the conversation mode and the application of open ending reflect Oates’s clever use of narrative techniques in this story.