The Circulation of Literary Narrative in The Bridges of Madison County From the Perspective of Prototype

The Bridges of Madison County, written by Robert James Waller, an American novelist, told a story of a farm woman, Francesca, who returned to her family after four indelible days of extramarital love. A great deal of narrative techniques had been employed in the novel. The circular narrative structure of the novel had been probed by applying Frye’s theory of circulation of literary narrative structure. Frye’s cycle of comedy, romance, tragedy and satire or irony had been fully illustrated by the plots,such as the heartbeat at the first meeting, the following four-day romance, the tearful farewell in the rain and the retrospection in old age.