A Study of Grotesques in Winesburg, Ohio_英语论文

摘要

舍伍德·安德森的代表作《小镇畸人》生动地展现了工业文明转型时期美国小镇人民的精神世界。它也因此被誉为二十世纪最伟大的英文小说之一。《小镇畸人》之所以取得如此巨大的成功，不仅仅在于它所体现的隔离、逃避和畸变等深刻的社会主题，还得益于其反映这些主题的高超完美的艺术手法，尤其是其对怪诞人物形象的生动的刻画。《小镇畸人》作品本身既松散又连贯的篇章结构，简洁质朴的语言风格及高超的写作技巧，在主题、内容、故事结构和创新手法等方面开创了美国现代主义小说的新局面，具有里程碑式的重要意义。影响了后来的整整一代美国作家，如菲茨杰拉德、海明威、福克纳等等。本文将从怪诞的人物形象在小说中的体现和导致其畸变的原因进行分析，深入探讨畸人主题在小说中的体现，工业文明转型时期美国小镇人民的畸变及小说畸人主题的文学价值和社会价值。

关键词：怪诞 工业文明 转型 

Abstract

Sherwood Anderson’s master work Winesburg, Ohio vividly reveals the spiritual world of American township people during the industrial civilization transformation period. Because of this, it was regarded as one of the best English novels in the 20th century. The great success of the Winesburg, Ohio not only depends on its profound social themes, such as isolation, escaping and grotesqueness, but also on its vivid expression of grotesques. This novel’s simple language style and superb writing techniques have created a new perspective of American modernism novels in terms of its theme, content, story structure and innovative techniques, which is an important milestone. Anderson’s writing style has a profound effect on later generations of American writers such as Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, Ernest Miller Hemingway, William Faulkner, and so on. In this paper, the depiction of grotesques and the grotesqueness of American township people during the period of industrial transformation and the cause of grotesqueness will be analyzed. In addition, its literary significance and social significance of the “grotesque” theme will be explored. 

Key words: Grotesque; Industrial civilization; Transformation

Contents

1 Introduction. 1

2 Characteristics of Grotesques in Winesburg, Ohio. 4

2.1 The Ugly Abnormal Appearance. 4

2.2 Strange Hilarious Languages and Dialogues. 5

2.3 Perverted Dramatic Behaviors. 6

2.4 Distorted and Unearthly Psychology. 7

3 The Cause of Grotesqueness8

3.1 Suffering from Painful Experiences 8

3.2 The Historical Background Cause. 9

4 Value of Grotesquery Description in Winesburg, Ohio 10

4.1 Literary Significance10

4.2 Social Significance 13

5 Conclusion 17

Bibliography. 19

Acknowledgments 20