【正文】 t ual l y happens, but al so what goes on in the mi nds of t he char act er s. I n shor t, t he nar rat or i s f ree to be omnisci ent, or selecti vel y omni scient, or t o bot h alt ernati ng. I n War and Peace t he nar at or enj oys om ni sci ence. In The Am bassador the nar rator confi nes his fi el d of vision t o that of a char act er and r elates the st or y i n the characte r ’s point of view. Thi s char act er is a center and al l ot her s are laid out in due per specti ve. Point of view can be di vi ded by the nar ator ’s r el ati on wit h t he events—whet her t he nar rat or part ici pat es or not: t he part ici pant narrat or and t he nonparti cpant narrat or. The parti ci pant narrator i s a per son who has experi enced something and es back t o r epor t. I shmael in M oby Dick i s a good example. As a par tici pant , t he nar rat or may take an act ive or pasive r ole i n t he event. Hi s report and under st andi ng of the event may or may not be r el iable or plet e, because he is denied omni sci ence and he may be pr ej udi ced. The nonpart ici pant narrat or st ands out si de what he i s rel at ing and t her ef ore, he i s gi ven pl ete f reedom as for what he wi shes to do wit h t he st or y. So poi nt of vi ew can be divided by t he ext ent of the nar rator ’s knowledge of the event s: t he omni sci ent narrat or, t he sel ect ive omni scient narrat or, t he obj ect ive narrator and t he so cal led “i nnocent eye”. The om ni sci ent nar ator knows ever yt hing wher eas t he selecti ve omniscient nar rator knows som ething. The obj ect ive nar ator does not tel l but shows. He i s li ke a camera t hat goes fr om scene t o scene and r ecords what can be recorded f or t he reader . This kind of point of view is also cal ed the dramat ic point of view because t he reader i s li ke the audience in a t heat er . The innocent eye nar rat or understands what he i s rel at ing l es t han the r eader does. Ther ef ore, his nar ati on is capabl e of ir ony. A nar ator is governed simul taneously by al l the t hr ee standar ds ment ioned above。l ant er n l it house gr eat ly contr ibutes t o the r eader ’s sense of unease, and so helps to bui ld t he story’s ef ect iveness. Anot her exam ple i s Lawr ence’ s “The Horse Dealer’s Daught er,” t he descri pti on at he begi nni ng of which contr ibutes much t o the at mosphere of t he st ory. 4. The importance of atm osphere in creat ing the set ing But i t is a m istake to say t hat t he at mospher e of a pi ece of f ict ion depends on t he set ing al one. (As il lustr at ed in Shakespear e’s Ham let, t he di alogue at t he ver y beginning of the pl ay hel ps power ful ly t o est ablish t he atmospher e of uncert ainty, in addit ion to t he set ting—the cold midnight cast le.) The vocabular y, t he fi gur es of speech, and the r hyt hm of t he sentence also hel p defi ne the gener al at mosphere, f or by t hese f act ors t he wri ter manages t o cont r ol t he kind of asoci ati ons t hat e t o the r eader ’s mi nd. At mosphere al so depends on character and act ion. In short , we may say t hat the at mosphere of f ict ion i s the pervasi ve, gener al feeli ng, gener ated by a number of factors ( set ti ng, character, acti on, and st yl e) that is characteri sti c of a gi ven st ory or novel. Chapt er Fi ve Point of View The issue of point of view is highl y phi losophi cal , because i t concerns the r elati on between the noveli st and the “f act s” i n t he novel, t he relati on between the noveli st and the r eader , and t he relat ion between t he novel and t he reader. The poi nt of vi ew i s the at it ude or outl ook of a nar rat or or character in a piece of l it eratur e, or i t i s the r elati onship bet ween the nar at or and the nar at ed. Metaphor ical y, a poi nt of view is a standpoint fr om whi ch the nar ator ses t he st ory and how he intends the r eader to see the st or y. When we open a novel , we open a window to l if e. What a vi si on the novel pr ovides largely depends on the point of view. Ficti onal prose and point of vi ew As we know there ar e at least l evels of di scourse to account f or the l anguage of f ict ional pr ose ( no mat er it is a novel or a shor t st or y), j ust because the nar ator level i nter venes bet ween the char acter char act er l evel and the author r eader level . From the diagr am shown bel ow you wi l l see: Addresser 1 Message Addr esse 1 (Noveli st ) ( reader ) Addreser 2 Message Addressee 2 ( Nar ator ) ( nar ratee) Addresser 3 Message Addressee 3 ( Character A) (Character B) This di agr am onl y acounts f or t he novel “in general” i n t he sense that al l thr e l evel s, and al t hr ee pai rs of part ici pants ar e needed to expl ai n how t he novel works as a f orm . But any part icular novel may neutr al ize some of the di st incti ons, mul tipl y others, or do bot h at the same t ime. The fact that there ar e six part ici pants i n t he basic di scourse str uct ure f or the novel autom at ical y means t hat her e are more vi ewpoi nts t o be taken int o acount in t he novel than i n other genr es ( . poet ry) . But t he oppor tunit ies in par ti cul ar novels f or mult iplyi ng t he num ber of vi ewpoi nt s to be consi dered, and r elated t o one anot her , ar e myr iad. It is thus har dly surpr ising t hat t he novel has bee t he genr e where wr it ers have expl ored viewpoint s ext ensi vel y. What i s a nar rat or? A nar rat or i s the one who t el s the stor y, of ten cal led t he st oryt el ler. But t he nar rator i s not necessar y t he noveli st. Even when the novel i s wr it en in the f ir st person, t he “I” i