in Victorian age, it concerns a love affair between a
young gentleman and a woman who is called The French lieutenant’s woman. The main character, Charles，lived on inheritance left by his father. He is engaged to Emestina, ,a typical Victorian wealthy lady, but he cancels the engagement after meeting with the beautiful，mysterious Sarah Woodruff, a social outcast known locally as the so-called whore of a French lieutenant. The narrator notoriously intrudes in the narration continuously, presenting different endings and encouraging his readers to reach their own conclusions，which makes this novel a“labyrinth without an exit”
CONTENTS ABSTRACT (ENGLISH)…………………………………………………….............i ABSTRACT (CHINESE)...................................................................................... .....ii CHAPTERI ONE INTRODUCTION 1. A Brief Introduction to John Fowles and The French Lieutenant’s
VICTORIAN CONVENTIONALITY 1 The rebelling behaviors of Sarah.................. ............................ .............18 2 The rebelling behaviors of Charles. .................. .....................................20 CHAPTER FOUR. THE IMPACT OF THE FREEDOM VIEWS ON THE NARRITION 1 The Author’s Free Choices of the Narrative Structure...............................24 2 The Readers‟ Free Choices of the Ending............................. .....................25 V. CONCLUSION.................................................................................................29
New-Historicism :Robert Huffaker in his book John Fowles(1980) says that the novel is of historical quality. Linda Hutchcon classifies the novel as ‘historiographic’ metafiction’ about Victorianism, in which “its theoretical self-awareness of history and fiction as human constructs is made the grounds for its rethinking and reworking of the forms and contents of the past
An-ti feminism : Magali Cornier Michael, who responds to Byrd in ‘Who is Sarah?’ A Critique of The French Lieutenant’s Woman’s Feminism” declares that this novel has been inappropriately evaluated for its feminism because the text’s perspective is male and asserts that the novel fails as a feminism statement because the figure of Sarah is never able to break the boundaries of male fantasy.
Other main works
The Collector 《收藏家》 The Magus 《巫术师》 The Ebony Tower 《埃伯尼塔楼》 Daniel Martin 《丹尼尔·马丁》 Mantissa 《曼蒂莎》 A Maggot 《想入非非》
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Woman….................................................................................. ……...............1 1.1. An Introduction to John Fowles…...………...........………………….….……..1 1.2. An Introduction to The French Lieutenant’s Woman……………………...2 1.3. Previous studies on The French Lieutenant’s Woman……... ……........4 2. A Brief Introduction to Existentialism………………………...... ………….….….8 CHAPTER TWO THE FREEDOM OF CHARACTERS’ CHOICES 1The Choices of the Sarah................................... ........................ .............11 2 The Choices of the Charles................................ ...................... ..............14 CHAPTER THREE THE FREEDOM VIEWS EMBODIED IN REBELLING AGAINST
2 Narrative devices．The French Lieutenant's Woman attracts the largest amounts of interest and criticism mainly because of its writing skills.
3 The analysis of Sarah the protagonist：Mainly analysis of her characters，her behaviors and the social significance. Different critics view her from different aspects such as feminist point of view.
Literature review
According to the materials available，the present researches of this novel mainly center on the following aspects：
1 Studies on the social and historical significance of the novel. Researches have been carried out to show the turmoil and movements of that time，to analyze the character of each figure in the novel and what they signify.
Feminism: Deborah Byrd, who calls this novel “an almost ideal feminist fictional work” and Sarah “a positive model” in her essay “The Evolution and Emancipation of Sarah Woodruff” in 1984 because of the development of a feminine consciousness in Sarah Woodruff.
His father was a tobacco businessman and his mother was a teacher. To escape the bombing of Nazi Germany during World War II, his family moved to Devon, a village on the south of TeMoer. Britain's countryside was charming and young Fowles had a strong interest in the mystery and beauty of nature here. This endless mystery and beauty became the source of his inspiration.