Narrative Multiplicity as Ideological Deconstruction in George Fox’s Amok

Structuralist Narratology underscores theoretical and typological ideas and interests in narratives. Novelists employ various narrative modes to embellish their style of writing and captivate the attention of readers. They exemplify their power of creativity through narrative multiplicity. Interpretation of novels is closely associated with the special way in which a narrator uses language in texts. This paper examines the narrative language of George Fox’s iAmok /iwith focus on literary stylistics. The main objective of this paper is to explore and delineate George Fox’s narrative skills as a unique modern American novelist and how he applies narrative multiplicity in his novel, iAmok/i. The literariness of this thriller cum novel lies in its structure and the effective use of language in describing events and analysing characters. The assertion that the novel’s capacity to represent plurality of voices or languages depends on the style of the novelist and his skill as an individual author undergirds this paper. Narratological concepts of Genette and Bal as guiding principles were essential reference points. Extracts from the novel served as primary data and the analytical procedure adopted was critical examination of textual content. Analysis identifies three forms of narrative multiplicity: mobile focalization, voice heteroglossia, and historical analepses and methodology that is, the application of Genette and Bal models to five excerpts from the novel, iAmok. /iThe study concludes that the interpretation and understanding of iAmok /iare based on narratological features such as linguistic, figurative and semiotic representation exemplified by the novelist’s captivating style, his choice of words and the portrayal of the human-monster character.