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Postmodern Horror Writing In A Series Of Unfortunate Events

Posted on:2021-03-17Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:T J SunFull Text:PDF
GTID:2415330611490794Subject:Children's literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
A Series of Unfortunate Events is children’s literature work written by Daniel Handler,an American writer of children’s literature,under the pen name Lemony Snicket.As a series of horror novels for children,A Series of Unfortunate Events has received a warm response from the readers,which reflects that children have an interest in reading horror novels.Up to now,horror art has evolved into two different types.One is classic horror.The other is postmodern horror.A Series of Unfortunate Events is a typical postmodern horror novel,featuring irrationality,grotesque,blurring boundary,aestheticization of violence and open ending and so on.Art-horror comes from natural horror,so the horror emotion in horror novels must be woken up by scary situations,relationships and events in the real world.The horror in A Series of Unfortunate Events is mainly reflected in three aspects: horror space,horror images and horror events.The life-based space,culturally symbolic monster images and irrational violent behaviors co-founded the world of horror in A Series of Unfortunate Events.This series conveys rich aesthetic emotion through concrete horror objects.The combination of horror and humor shows the postmodern characteristics,which is different from classic horror featuring only one feeling of terror.The grotesque style and unique narrative strategies of A Series of Unfortunate Events help bring a special reading effect,that is,"laughing in the dark".This series not only creates a aesthetic experience combining the feeling of terror and security for children readers,but also further explores the psychological boundaries of children.Horror is not only from the threatening external environment,but also from the dangerous inner world.And both them can be attributed to the destruction of boundary.On the way to growth,the three Baudelaire youngsters have to suffer the confusion of reality and fiction,the uncertainty of good and evil,and the crisscross of ego and other.But It is in this blurred and dangerous world that they embarkon their journey of self-construction.Handler exactly reveals the aesthetic characteristics of postmodern horror in his works and meanwhile takes the psychological characteristics of children readers into consideration.The discussion about this series on the basis of horror aesthetics does good to grasp the aesthetic characteristics of this work,and also helps people think deeply about the value and possibility of postmodern horror writing in children’s literature,thus providing reference for the creation and development of the same theme in Chinese children’s literature.
Keywords/Search Tags:A Series of Unfortunate Events, Postmodern Horror, Concretization, Aesthetic Expression, Psychological Boundary
PDF Full Text Request
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