【作者】 许燕；

【导师】 蒋坚松；

【作者基本信息】 湖南师范大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2002， 硕士

【副题名】论爱伦·坡的恐怖故事

【摘要】 爱德加·爱伦·坡(1809-1849)生前作品并不多：七十几个短篇小说，一个中篇，五十几首诗歌，以及一些随笔和评论，但是他在美国乃至整个世界文学中的地位和作用是不可替代的。近两百年来对爱伦·坡及其作品的评论，多注重对单个短篇的评说，或热衷于对坡奇特生平的挖掘。本文试图把爱伦·坡的恐怖故事作为一个整体来考察，把批评的重心放在坡的恐怖故事文本、创作理论以及哲学思想上，从而重新阐释坡的恐怖故事。 本文在恐怖故事中寻找共同的结构，在共同的结构中探求意义。圆形是大部分恐怖故事所共有的基本的平面结构。令人毛骨悚然的故事往往发生在幽闭的圆形建筑物里，圆形不断旋转形成旋涡，旋涡巨大的向心力吞噬了无助的生命。故事的时间不再呈直线发展，而像钟面一样，只是一个封闭的网形，没有过去，也没有将来。在圆形的时间里，生命被时间慢慢消磨，直到最后一刻。故事中人物的发展和变化也形成了一个循环的圆形，而死亡是最后归宿。圆形正好与坡的哲学思想相契合，他认为，宇宙间万物的发展也都是遵循一个圆形的运行轨迹。 引言部分追溯了近二百年来爱伦·坡在文学界声誉的起起落落，为新的解读提供一个文学批评的背景。 第一章主要讨论故事的圆形空间背景。文中指出，圆形飞速旋转形成的旋涡是爱伦·坡恐怖故事最典型的空间背景。旋涡中幽闭的圆形象征了人物内心的恐惧、焦虑和眩晕。此外，卜沉的巨大旋涡象征了十九世纪“沉沦”的世界，物质 利益和一f业化进程摧毁了这个世界里美好的过去。 第一几章分析了圆形的时间。和钟面一样，坡的时间也是 圆形的，封闭的。它似乎与过去或将来都没有关联，圆形把 一切，连同生命都圈在了里面。午夜，圆形钟面上最后一刻， 就是死神降临的时候。 第二章指出，坡故事中的人物也是循圆形轨迹发展的。 完招的人格因为不堪社会压力走向分裂，而分裂的个体最终 还是要走向整合，夕匕亡完成了这一过程，使一切重新归于完 整。人物人格的分裂和重新整合，这一圆形轨迹.与坡的哲学 思想相契合，即宇宙间万物也都蕴含了发散和重新回归的趋 势，这止是《我发现了》的哲学内涵。 结论部分总结全文，进一步概括了幽闭的圆形在恐怖文 本中所包含的心理学、美学以及哲学内涵。更多还原

【Abstract】 With a relatively small volume of works, about seventy short stories, a short novel, some fifty poems, and a roughly equivalent volume of essays, Edgar Allan Poe has exerted a substantial influence on American and world literature. The influence of his tales of terror on the subsequent novels or short stories is especially enormous. With respect to the criticisms on Poe and his works, most are concerned with some individual tale, and much research work has been devoted to Poe’s biographical details. In the thesis, we are going to examine of his tales of terror as a whole, putting the stress of the inquiry on his texts, his theories of composition and his philosophy.The thesis endeavors to unearth the common structure of the whole, and meanwhile dig out the meaning of that structure. By comparisons and generalization, we find that the enclosed circular structure is the basic plane figure shared by most of Poe’s tales of terror. The locale is mostly confined in an enclosed circle; the time goes in a closed circle, not in a linear continuum; the personality of the characters develops in the circular orbit.The Introduction traces the history of Poe’s literary position inthe critic circles in the hope that it can provide our reading of Poe’s tales with a broad critical background.Chapter One is devoted to a detailed discussion of the locales in Poe’s tales of terror. It points out that Poe’s locales are mainly constituted by swirling circles, typically the whirlpools. These enclosed spatial circles have two connotations. Descending into the circles implies the fear, suffocation, anxiety and vertigo in the deep psychology of the heroes and the author. Furthermore, the descending circles of the whirlpools symbolize the "degenerated" society in the nineteenth century, in which people had been corrupted by materialism and industrialization.Chapter Two concentrates on the analysis of the circular time in Poe’s tales of terror. Poe’s time goes not in a linear continuum but in circles. The temporal circles surround Poe’s characters. Midnight, the ending as well as the beginning point of a temporal circle, is the time of death.Chapter Three sets out to trace out the developmental orbit of the characters in Poe’s tales of terror. The disintegration of the united personality under the pressure of the society and the integration of the divided selves through death constitute a circle. There is a close affinity between the circular developmental orbit of the characters and Poe’s philosophy that all the matter in theuniverse moves in a circular route. This is the philosophical implication of Eureka.The Conclusion summarizes the psychological, aesthetic, and philosophical implications of the enclosed circles in Poe’s tales of terror.更多还原