A Brief Analysis on the Connotation and Causation of Theme of Death in Edgar Allan Poe’s Works---开题报告

Edgar Allan Poe, American poet, short-story writer, and critic, is acknowledged as one of the most brilliant and original romantic writers in American literature. He is regarded as the pioneer of aestheticism and one of the initiators of literature critics and has become an immortal figure in the history of literature. He is the founder of American short-story novelist who focuses on the theme of death. His novels are full of horror, mystery and romance. Poe is recognized for his language and form of writing, especially the dark and mysterious style of writing and the fascination for blood and death he exhibited in his gothic novels. These drew the attention of many a literature critic, and also leave great impression on ordinary readers. He is famous for depicting death and darkness. Though desperation and pessimism permeate his works, Poe never ceases striving for discovering beauty out of ugly matters, endeavoring to arouse human’s desire for beauty and love of life in filthy material world. Allan Poe has produced huge influence on later writers especially in his later detective and mystery novels. Poe's aesthetic thoughts have profound effect on many western and Chinese novels. Many Chinese writers imitate Allan Poe’s works like combining the elements beauty and death, and the grotesque images in their works.

    About the achievements of Allan Poe, many articles and books were written. In the area of literature, Kevin J. Hayes examined all of Allan Poe’s major writings like his famous poems and short stories in The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. He elaborated Poe’s lifetime and concentrates on his influential effect on culture.

Sidney P. Moss, professor in Murray State University published Poe’s Literary Battles: the Critic in the Context of His Literary Milieu which is the definitive work on the aspect of Poe’s stormy career. It captures the times vividly and presents a valuable addition to the growing critical and scholarly literature of the Poe revival.

J. Gerald Kennedy, professor of English at Louisiana State University published A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe which contains an introduction that considers the tensions between Poe's "otherwordly" settings and his historically marked representations of violence, as well as a capsule biography situating Poe in his historical context. The subsequent essays in this book cover such topics as Poe and the American Publishing Industry, Poe's Sensationalism, his relationships to gender constructions, and Poe and American Privacy.

    Zheng Chaoqun, from Fujian Normal University publicshed a paper on the Journal of China Academic. He analyzed the theme of death in Poe’s novels mainly from two perspectives: the death of pretty women and renascence. He considered that Poe’s theme of death revealed his desire for and pursuit of beauty and life, implying the ideal for immortality and eternality.

Zhu Xiaoning, from Shenyang Normal University wrote an article about the analysis of the theme of death in Allan Poe’s works. He analyzed Poe’s life experience and the reasons of Poe’s creation of theme of death. He points that Poe’s unique literary theory, bumpy life experience and the current social environment had extreme influence on Poe’s literature creation.

For nearly one and a half century, the critics from different countries have taken great interest in his works. Though there are various comments on his works, the theme of death is widely focused on accordingly. In order to know the great novelist well, it is essential for us to pay more attention to the content, the causation and the profound significance of the theme of death in his works.

二、Outline

1. Introduction

1.1. A brief introduction of the author and his works

      1.2. Literature review

      1.3. Significance and structure of the thesis

    2. The connotations of the theme of death

      2.1. Beauty of melancholy and sorrow

      2.2. Beauty of horror and mystery

      2.3. Beauty of romance and fantasy

    3. The motives of forming the theme of death

      3.1. Distinctive literary theory

3.2. Bumpy life experience

      3.3. Social factors

4. Conclusion

三、Bibliography

[1] Edgar Allan Poe. A Complete Collection of Tales by Edgar Allan Poe [M] 上海世界图书出版公司，2008,6

[2] Edgar Allan Poe. The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe [M] Signet Classics，2008,10 

[3] Kevin J. Hayes. Edgar Allan Poe [M] 上海外语教育出版社，2004,8 

[4] 爱伦•坡. 爱伦•坡精品集 [M] 曹明伦，译. 合肥：安徽文艺出版社，1999:683

[5] 曹曼. 爱伦•坡死亡主题的内涵读解 [J] 华中师范大学学报（人文社会科学版），2000，39（02）

[6] 常耀信. 美国文学简史 [M] 天津：南开大学出版社，1997，149

[7] 高彦. 人生之超越——对爱伦•坡诗歌死亡主题的解读 [J] 淮北职业技术学院学报，2009，08,（04）

[8] 郑超群. 死亡•重生•美——谈爱伦•坡死亡小说中的生命观 [J] 安徽文学，2008 （12）

[9]. 朱晓宁. 死亡主题——埃德加•爱伦•坡作品研究 [J] 沈阳大学学报，2006，18（03）

[10] 邹霞. 爱伦•坡诗歌中死亡主题的生命内涵[J]. 大理学院学报，2012，11（01）

[11] 邹会明. 试论爱伦•坡文学创作中的死亡之美[J]. 贵阳金筑大学学报，2002（02）

[12] J. Gerald Kennedy. A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe [M] Oxford 

University Press，2001,4