Facing Despair And Pursuing Hope:A Study Of Liquor And Alcoholics In Raymond Caryer’s Literary Works

Raymond Carver can be regarded as one of the most outstanding short story writers in the history of American literature. He has been regarded as the leader of Minimalism writers. His literary works generally describe the difficult living situation and the perplexed psychological states of those people who belong to lower classes in American society. Carver is good at exploring the profound meaning of daily life and expressing his reflection on existence through accurate words. Liquor and alcoholic are two typical imageries of great importance in his literary works. Carver had been indulged in alcohol for13years. This period was full of suffering and distress. He went through difficult struggle and eventually got rid of alcoholism in1977, which was called "the start of his second life". However, the previous experiences had left indelible marks on him and became the main source of his writing materials. The process of Carver’s abstinence is also the course of pursuing hope in despair.Foreign scholarships about Raymond Carver began from the1980s, and flourish in the end of the1990s. There are remarkable achievements. Many scholars studied his works (including novels and poems) from various points of view, trying to examine his artistic achievement as comprehensive as possible. In contrast, domestic research is not very satisfactory. The quantity of both translation and research articles is quite limited. Carver’s poems, essays, comments and letters haven’t been translated into Chinese totally. Only one study book could be found. Academic paper of high quality is also not easy to access. According to the papers which are collected by the author, there is almost no article of studying typical imageries in Carver’s literary works. Therefore this thesis is aimed at exploring deeper meaning of liquor and its related imageries in Carver’s works on the basis of reading texts in detail, as well as analyzing the process of formation of these imageries.This thesis is composed by three chapters. In the first chapter, the author cites sentences and sections which include liquor or alcoholics from both novels and poems to demonstrate the two imageries’significance. In the second chapter, the author tries to reveal the complex emotions and humanistic connotations behind the two imageries. Meanwhile, comparing with the same imageries of the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the history of classical Chinese literature may help us understand Carver’s implication better. In the last chapter, the author discusses the imageries’ reasons of formation, which could be divided into three parts as follows:Carver’s life experience and personal realization, America’s historical background and social condition, the development of existential philosophy. This article can help readers get a better understanding of relevant texts. We are capable of taking this opportunity to learn more about Raymond Carver and his original thoughts about creation.