The Art of the Nouveau Roman in The Driver’s Seat

Abstract

This article focuses on Muriel Spark’s art of the nouveau roman in The Driver’s Seat. It probes into the nature of the nouveau roman, the major concerns of its advocates, and the relation between the nouveau roman and postmodernism. Then it tackles with the presentation of the protagonist, the descriptions of the places, monotonous behaviour of the characters and the purposeful design of the lack of syntactical variety. Finally, it discusses the disruption of the sequential plot. With the impersonal narration and the rejection of the sequential plot, Spark’s The Driver’s Seat shows the typical features of the nouveau roman as well as the postmodernist fiction and turns out to be a brilliant success.