Existential Insights and Philosophical Wisdom in John Fowles’s <i>The French Lieutenant’s Woman</i> : A Critical Examination of the Search for Meaning in Postmodern Literature

Abstract The paper combines the “other” concept and existentialism in examining John Fowles’s wisdom for existence in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, a famous novel that has attracted a great deal of research interest at home and abroad. The paper begins by examining the cognitive function of the “other” in Sarah’s and Charles’s (self-)identity construction to answer the question of who Sarah and Charles are. Then, the paper touches upon the torments of the “self” inflicted by the “other” because the “other” holds expectations for the “self”, concerning what he/she should do. The paper then proposes a way of existence: being-for-itself, manifested in Sarah and Charles, who refuse to live aimlessly and choose to live as their hearts desire.