"dream" In The Novel "benefactor" Aesthetic Analysis

The Benefactor is the first novel of Susan Sontag, a famous American writer of 20th Century. The dreams of the protagonist Hippolyte run through the entire novel. The language of exquisite diction and profound meaning takes the readers to fly in the dreams, and the structure is characterized by interlocked fantasy and reality, which not only adds infinite charm to the novel, but also helps to build the"defamiliarization"aesthetic pattern in the novel. The queer behavior of Hippolyte: having dreams, interpreting dreams and putting dreams into real action, not only reflects the inward philosophical connotation of the novel, but also contributes to the construction of another distinctive aesthetic pattern–the absurd. This thesis will, based on the interpretation of the various dreams in the novel, make a comprehensive analysis of the aesthetic patterns and explore the aesthetic values of"dreams"in literature.