A Study Of American Southern Gothic

Postgraduate: Liu YubongSupervisor: Zhang ShuningBeginning with a brief introduction to the definition of the Gothic, this paper consists of four parts. Part I traces the genre's development in England and America from its earliest voguethrough the twentieth centuiy, presents the two opposite critical voices about the nature of the Gothic, and introduces the Gothic writing of the four American southern writers this p~ierinvolves, namely, Poe, Bierce, Faulkner and O'Connor. Part II focuses on the psychologicalsignificance of Poe's nightmare tales as well as Bierce's ghost stories Through the textual reading of the short stoiy of Faulkner and O'Connor, pait Ill tries to prove that the Gothic ispowerful not only mexplo g the night side of human psychology, but also in expressing a writer's social concerns. The conclusion points out that it is noticeable that so far there is not an exclusive, chronological, and systematic study of American Gothic short fiction Since short fiction is a specialty of America, and the Gothic has a big share in the dark spu-it of American literature, this issue is worthy of research.The historical development of the Gothic covers more than two hundred years. Published in1746, the English Walpole's immensely popular The Castle of Otmnto triggered the popularity of a new but bizarre hteraiy genre, the Gothic romance. C. B. Brown began a powerful tradition inAmerican Gothic writing with his Wieland (1789). Around 1820, the Gothic romance broke up, diversified, and became "the Gothic" - an influential spirit rather than a pure genre. The Victorian period employed the Gothic to reflect the anxiety and fears of social, cultural, and psycholo~cal regressions. In the nineteenth-century literature of America, the Gothic was powerfully throbbing in the works of Poe, Hav~thome and Bierce. The twentieth century sees the continuous popularity of the Gothic fiction not only in pulp fiction, but also in the masterworks of Southern writers.Traditionally there are two opposite arguments about the nature of Gothic. One is to devalueit.The stock devices in the Gothic romance, for instance, make it a sitting target for critics.However, the other "voice" emphasizes the Gothic's psychological undercurrent and pervasive influence Keech, for example, reminds us to pay more attention to the effect of the Gothic rather than the devices it employs.The supernatural is another pronounced convention of the Gothic. From the accidental happenings in Walpole's pioneering work, to the actual demons and ghosts stalking through the pages of Supernatural Gothic, to the adept and delicate incotporation of the natural and the supernatural in Ambiguous Gothic, the function of the supernatural is elevated from the sensation seeking to the psychological exploration and metaphysical thinking.Due to its exclusive history and culture, the Gothic tradition in the South is mainly manifested in the two pronounced features: psychological interest and social concernsTill now, the best expression of American Gothic's strong curiosity in the remote recess of human psychology remains in the short fiction of Poe. His horror tales touch almost every aspect of human nightmare. Poe's important contribution to the Gothic is manifested in at least two aspects. First he condensed the traditional Gothic setting of big, ancient castles into smaller mansion, library, chamber, dungeon or cellar that are more closed, more repressed. Suchcorrespond perfectly with the dark, distorted mind of his heroes. Second, having execued~~y his theory of unity, Poe's Gothic tales are perfect versions of human nightmare. Standing out in his murder-death tales but often excluded in the discussion of his nightmare tales, the famous "The Tell-Tale Heart" is actually a good example. The double is another paradigm in Poe's Gothic tales. So far "The Black Cat" has rarely been treated in this vein. The author argues thatVthe wife functions as the husband's conscience, the cat of...