In Search Of The Artistic Splendor In The Hannibal Trilogy

Thomas Harris (b. 1940) is the master of modern suspense novels in the UnitedStates and his magnum opus Hannibal Trilogy (Red Dragon, 1981, The Silence ofLamb, 1988, and Hannibal, 1999) are widely renowned. That Hannibal Lecter, aforensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer, plays the part of thread to weavethose three novels into a tapestry makes the series known as "Hannibal Trilogy". InThe Red Dragon, the protagonist Detective William Graham, precisely because hefailed to solve the case, went to a mental hospital for a prisoner Dr. Lecter who wasan expert in the field of criminal psychology and might do him a favor. Surprisinglyenough, the characterization of Hannibal Lecter who at first played a insignificant rolein this novel, has gone beyond the author's expectation and won the readers'attention, even to the point of ascending to the central figure of his next two novels,The Lamb of Silence and Hannibal.The narrator of "Hannibal Trilogy" has spent much effort in depicting a series ofcrime scenes. It is engaged with the theme of cannibalism and metamorphosis anddeftly created gothic atmosphere through the portrait of the environment andemplotment. What is more, in terms of characterization, Harris blurred the traditionalboundaries between the images of detective, criminal and victim, and combined theseemingly opposite figures into one which may invite the readers to penetrate into thecharacters' inner world and to gauge the paradox that inheres in it.Such blurring of boundaries is also embodied in the central concern of HannibalTrilogy, namely, the issue of how to present human nature. Hannibal, notwithstandinga brutal criminal, helped the federal detective Clarice Starling to find criminals in thecourse of making contact with her. He then took advantage of one occasion andescaped from the prison. After being rescued by Starling again, Hannibal restored hislost conscience. In Harris's view, the good or evil in human nature is not that absolute.Unlike the ending of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that Dr. Jekyll brought the life of thatunhappy Henry Jekyll —Mr. Hyde — to an end, Harris's bears testimony to thepossibility of the coexistence of good and evil in one person, as exemplified byHannibal Lecter.Although "Hannibal Trilogy" is deemed as popular detective stories, it touchesupon the problems of reality and ponders human nature in a serious manner that noother popular literature is comparable. The trilogy bears the imprints of traditionalGothic imagination. By telling a crime story of contemporary American metropolis,the narrator not only exposes the dark side of social reality, but also goes deeper intothe characters' heart, probing the leitmotif that the narrator is concerned with: goodand evil of human nature. At the same time, the trilogy reinterprets evil as both anaesthetic and ethical category. Last but not least, the trilogy's artistic splendor isattributed to a great deal of fantastic imagery it contains and its dialogue withprevious canons.