VICTORIAN VS. MODERN: MODALITY IN THE LANGUAGE OF <em>THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN</em> BY JOHN FOWLES

Abstract

Beside his ingenious plots, vivid characters and mysterious settings, British author John Fowles is famous for his creative language games. His novels often tell us about male and female role, as well as the desirable and undesirable actions in society. In The French Lieutenant's Woman, his most prominent novel, he successfully combines traditional Victorian style with modern/postmodern one, the former symbolizing restraints imposed upon the characters, the latter their genuine emotions and desires. The aim of this paper is to analyze modality as one of the most interesting tools in illustrating these two opposed principles.