The Dialogism in The French Lieutenant’s Woman

Abstract

The French Lieutenant’s Woman is the English novelist John Fowles’ representative work, which shows the author’s concern on the theme of freedom through the romantic entanglements of the hero and heroine, using special art of dialogue. Based on intensive reading and exhaustive textual analysis, applying Bakhtin’s theory of dialogue, this paper analyzes the dialogic features of this novel from two aspects: the great dialogue among the author, the readers and the characters, and the micro-dialogue in the characters’ inner worlds. The findings are helpful for readers to have a better understanding of The French Lieutenant’s Woman from a new perspective and feel Fowles’ and Bakthin’s respect for human values.