在夏綠蒂勃朗蒂的四本長篇小說中，三本是用第一人稱自傳體寫成的。她的早期作品也多是採取第一人稱觀點。由此可見勃朗蒂對此一敘事觀點的偏愛。正因第一人稱敘事特有的真實感，導致勃朗蒂筆下的女主角常被讀者視為她的化身。本論文旨在探討作者、小說、與第一人稱敘事間錯綜複雜的關係。身為一知名十九世紀女作家，勃朗蒂選擇寫自傳式小說來滿足自我表達的慾望，卻不撰寫她本人的真正自傳。本論文第一章即探究造成勃朗蒂此一決定的社會文化背景及其個人因素，並討論勃朗蒂在小說中呈現出的維多利亞時期男性與女性自傳的不同特徵。第二章則探討勃朗蒂偏愛第一人稱敘事觀點的理由，並指出她的小說敘事技巧的進步，及為何由早期以男性為主體的敘事轉變為後期的女性論述。第三章則討論勃朗蒂小說中始終關注的主題—愛與婚姻。將小說的文本以及作者的生平資料予以對照檢視，可以發現勃朗蒂的小說男女主角忠實的反映了作者本人的真實信念。而這也突顯了勃朗蒂寫小說的目的，即是要傳達她所相信的真理，並進而影響她的讀者。

Among Charlotte Bronte's four full-length novels, three are composed in the form of autobiography: Jane Eyre (1847), Villette (1853), and The Professor (published posthumously in 1857). The abundance of first-person narratives in Bronte's juvenile writings also highlights her marked preference for the first-person perspective in telling stories. In fact, due to the vital sense of truth inherent in first-person narration, Bronte is often identified by her readers as the heroines in her novels. This thesis aims to deal with the complex relationships of the authoress, her works, and the first-person narration. As a famous woman writer in the nineteenth century, Bronte satisfies her desire for self-expression by means of writing autobiographical fictions instead of composing her real autobiography. The first chapter examines the social and cultural contexts as well as Bronte's personal reasons behind such a choice. There is also the discussion of Bronte's presentation of the different characteristics of Victorian autobiographies by men and women in her novels. The second chapter investigates into Bronte's narrative strategy, and provides answers to her insistence on first-person narration while the omniscient narration is the mainstream of novel writing. The development of Bronte's narrative technique and her transition from the early masculine narrative to the later female discourse are also traced. The third chapter reviews the everlasting subject of Bronte's novels—love and marriage. With a careful textual study of Bronte's novels and a comprehensive examination of her biographical documents, I find that Bronte's fictional hero and heroines have faithfully reflected the authoress's real thoughts and true beliefs. As can be detected, to deliver the truth that she knows of and to influence her readers on issues that concern her most have always been Bronte's main preoccupations in respect of novel writing.

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………1
Chapter I: Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction ……………….8
Chapter 2: Narration and Meaning …………………………………….28
Chapter 3: Love and Marriage …………………………………………64
Appendix ……………………………………………………………….93
Selected Bibliography ………………………………………………….96

Selected Bibliography

Primary Sources
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---. Shirley. 1849. Eds. Andrew and Judith Hook. 1974. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985.
---. Shirley. 1849. Eds. Herbert Rosengarten and Margaret Smith. 1981. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
---. Villette. 1853. Ed. Mark Lilly. 1979. London: Penguin, 1985.
---. An Edition of the Early Writings of Charlotte Bronte. Ed. Christine Alexander. 2 vols. to date. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987-.
---. The Juvenilia of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Ed. Frances Beer. London: Penguin, 1986.

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