On the narrative art of dialogues in The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary

Romain Gary's novel The Roots of Heaven tells of the story about elephant poaching and anti-poaching, which occurred in French Equatorial Africa in 1950s, as an attempt to arouse human's awareness of nature protection. The success of this novel not only results from its profound ideological content, but also from its dialogues as a major element in its narrative art. The fiction applies dialogues as its main narrative mode, whose inner dynamic drives readers into the multiple dimensions of the characters in it. Furthermore, this special narrative strategy presents the composite relationship among the author, the text and the reader. Various dialogue strategies are utilized in the story's characterization and plot development, which contributes to the artistic unity between its content and form. This paper tries to analyze the narrative art of dialogues from the focused dialogue, clipped dialogue and monologue in The Roots of Heaven, which may help to reveal its deep ideological connotations and unique artistic charm.