爱伦·坡短篇小说中的哥特式风格_英语论文

The Gothic Style in Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Stories

摘要

埃德加·爱伦·坡（1809-1849）是美国短篇小说的最早先驱者之一，有着“侦探小说的鼻祖”和“恐怖小说之父”的美称。由于受到自18世纪末开始由英伦兴起的哥特式小说的影响，他的小说中充满了怪异离奇、恐怖阴暗的哥特式风格。在哥特式作品中，他擅长运用古堡、坟墓等意象，喜欢描写人的精神世界，表现人的病态心理，形成了自己独有的哥特式风格，成为了一位哥特式小说大师。本文通过对比爱伦·坡的三篇杰作《厄舍古屋的倒塌》、《黑猫》和《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》，研究哥特式风格在爱伦·坡这三篇短篇小说中的共同体现，从而证明哥特式风格在爱伦·坡小说中的广泛应用以及他对哥特式小说发展的重大贡献。

关键词：埃德加·爱伦·坡；哥特小说；恐怖

Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is one of the earliest practitioners of American Short Stories, and he is regarded as the inventor of the detective stories and the father of horror fictions. Influenced by the gothic fiction originated in England in the late 18th century, Poe’s short stories are full of gothic styles with bizarre situations and horrible atmosphere. In his gothic fiction, he is good at adopting images like old castles and graves, describing characters’ inner world and revealing their morbid psychology, which helps him to form his own unique gothic style and become a great master of gothic fictions. By comparing Poe’s three gothic short stories--- The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat and The Cask of Amontillado，the common gothic styles in these three fictions will be studied to prove that Edgar Allan Poe widely employs gothic elements in his short stories, and that he also makes great contributions to the development of gothic fictions.

Key words: Edgar Allan Poe; gothic fictions; terror 

Contents

Introduction 1

1. Introduction to the American Gothic Fiction 3

1.1 Development of American Gothic Fiction 3

1.2 Typical Features of American Gothic Fiction 4

2. Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe 5

2.1 Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe 5

2.2 Poe’s Contributions to the Development of Gothic Fiction 6

3. Introduction to The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat and The Cask of Amontillado 8

3.1 The Fall of the House of Usher 8

3.2 The Black Cat 9

3.3 The Cask of Amontillado 9

4. Comparative Study of the Common Gothic features in The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat and The Cask of Amontillado 10

4.1 Narrative Perspective 10

4.1.1 In The Fall of the House of Usher 10

4.1.2 In The Black Cat 11

4.1.3 In The Cask of Amontillado 11

4.2 Morbid Personality 12

4.2.1 In The Fall of the House of Usher 12

4.2.2 In The Black Cat 13

4.2.3 In The Cask of Amontillado 14

4.3 Terror Atmosphere 15

4.3.1 In The Fall of the House of Usher 15

4.3.2 In The Black Cat 16

4.3.3 In The Cask of Amontillado 17

4.4 Death 18

4.4.1 In The Fall of the House of Usher 18

4.4.2 In The Black Cat 19

4.4.3 In The Cask of Amontillado 19

Conclusion 21

References 23