Abstract
This thesis explores concepts of narration, characterization, and intertextuality in Barbara Kingsolver "The Poisonwood Bible." The narrative in this novel is divided between five different narrators, and I examine how these narrators are in dialog with each other. As Kingsolver calls her novel a political allegory, I also examine whether the narrators can be placed within an allegorical taxonomy. Moreover, I look into how the novel is in dialog with other texts. I my discussion of intertextuality, I explore how Emily Dickinson s Tell all the Truth but Tell it Slant, William Carlos Williams s A Red Wheelbarrow, Joseph Conrad s "Heart of Darkness" and Chinua Achebe s "Things Fall Apart" are integrated in "The Poisonwood Bible." I also apply Achebe s criticism of "Heart of Darkness" to "The Poisonwood Bible." I study "The Poisonwood Bible" as a polyphonic text, and refer to Bakthin s ideas of dialogism throughout my thesis.