Analytic Investigation Of The Traditional Factors In The Dark Is Rising

According to the recommended table of contents of fantastic literature provided by U.S. Young Adult Library Association to young people, in which we can find the importance of fantasy literature, as well as its popularity and in which British fantasy novelist Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series in the first place, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy ranks second, Philip ? Pullman's Golden Compass at the fourth position, Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia and as well as Lloyd UrsulaK LeGuin's Legend of Earthsea came in fifth, moreover, Gail ? Carson ? Levine's Ella Enchanted , Hobbit, and other works all occupy the ranking front row. In the West, the genre of fantasy literature is a unique category which has an extensive readership. Almost overnight, this kind of novels of new literary genre, such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Dark is Rising and so on almost attract the eyes of readers of all ages. In fact, fantasy literature has a long history. However, in this paper I chose the second work of The Dark is Rising series as my object of study. In fact, The Dark is Rising series are complementary five magical masterpieces which are not only complementary with each other but also different from each other. Although at the very beginning of fantasy, which is on the basis of Knight Novels and Myth, it is completely capable of developing into a new style, no matter what they change into, it has its own characteristics and background. In children's literature, fantasy is in the presence of a long history; it is not only a traditional model of saying, but also a kind of modern artistic spirit. The mythical spirit and characteristics which are reflected in fantasy literature, such as the heroic adventure, supernatural magic power, the battle between good and evil, etc., which are a kind of new myth derived from the traditional myth but different from the traditional one. On the basis of the excellent research fruits of the earlier experts,and according to Joseph Campbell's view of heroic adventure model, in this paper I begin with the reason why fantasy literature is raged world-wide and then make a comprehensive study of the traditional factors in The Dark is Rising, such as the hero motif, immortality, search, as well as every woman wants to be a fairy lady and so on.The main body of this paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter One analyzes why the Fantasy is raged world-wide, including three sections: 1) the fantasy is new myth: the continuation and evolution of the traditional narrative; 2) hero's soul is growing up in the adventure; 3) briefly introducing Susan Cooper and her masterpieces. Chapter Two explores the main characters of The Dark is Rising. Chapter Three analyzes the major traditional themes—hero motif, search and immortality in The Dark is Rising, including 1) the hero motif, in this section, I will analyze the birth of hero, hero's adventures and growing-up process and immortality; 2) immortality; 3) search. Chapter Four from text to screen to make a thematic approach to the movie The Dark is Rising: the Seeker, including1) a brief introduction of the movie; 2) every woman wants to be a Fairy Lady. In this paper, I mainly analyze the hero motif and explore in several aspects, such as the birth of hero, hero's adventures, hero's suffering and so on. Being separated from elder's asylum, the heroes grow up in experiences of dangers and suffering distress. The majority of heroes can face the pain of independent growth and complete his transformation. Preliminary suffering distress is the preparing period of transformation, passing through the suffering time, then the hero transforms successfully. Hero on the needs of the times is born. With more and more exciting adventures, our heroes are slowly growing up, in addition to the external increase in height, age; the most important thing is the soul growth of hero and exactly it is growing up in avoidance.