A Probe into the Postmodernism in The French Lieutenant’s Women

Abstract

The French Lieutenant’s Woman is generally regarded as one of the classic postmodernist novels. This paper attempts to analyze the postmodern writing techniques in The French Lieutenant’s Woman : the first is the narrator’s intervention, who dissects the characters, plots and so on; the second is alternative endings that complement and deconstruct one another; the third is self-revealed characteristics, which is reflected in the exposure of and mediation upon the creative process and fiction of the novel;the fourth is uncertainty of the character, particularly the characterization of the protagonist Sarah. The postmodern writing techniques in this novel helps reconstruct and deconstruct the Victorian society.