Three Cases Study Of The Castle Of Otranto,Frankenstein And The Black Cat As Classic Gothic Novels In Modern China

The Gothic novel plays a unique and significant role in the development of western modern novels."Gothic novel" originally referred to a genre of novel which appeared,became popular and disappeared in Britain during the last decade of the18 th century and the first two decades of the 19 th century.However,this Gothic trend has very significant influence on the English and American literature,a great many important writers have inherited this writing tradition in their novels,thus forming a unique Gothic tradition in English and American Literature.In the context of cultural studies,the academic criticism regards the Gothic as an important cultural phenomenon,and the Gothic novel has moved from its ignored "popular culture" position to the center of literature,entering the mainstream in literature development.This paper addresses the weaknesses in the study of translation,introduction and reception of Gothic novels in modern China,identifying three classical works The Castle of Otranto,Frankenstein and The Black Cat as the main objects of study.The paper includes five chapters.Introduction: The process of extending the connotation of Gothic novels is exactly the process of extending the critical discourse of Gothic novels,and the literature review intends to start from this perspective,from both foreign(English and American)and domestic two parts of research.Furthermore,to outline the value of this research,the selection of research objects and the proposed research method.Chapter 1: The Castle of Otranto has pioneering significance in Gothic novel.This chapter using the 1914-1915 Chinese version of The Castle of Otranto by HJU School Journal and four early English literature book published by 1920 s to the 1940 s as two objects of study,examines the cultural choices made by the translator of HJU,as well as observes how had The Castle of Otranto entered the narrative of the literary world.Chapter 2: Frankenstein is a masterpiece representative of nineteenth-century Gothic novel.Above all,the Hollywood adaptation film Frankenstein(1931)created Horror Film genre and became very popular around the world.This chapter examines the phenomenon of misinterpretation,the dissemination of film stars and the cutting and banning situation of 1931 film in the context of cross-cultural communication from Hollywood to China.Chapter 3: Edgar Allan Poe’s "Psychological Gothic" facilitated Horror Psychologization,is a turning point in the development of the Gothic tradition,and the most representative object for the study of American Gothic.This chapter focus on the translation,introduction and reception of Poe’s Psychological Gothic novels in modern China.And carries out a comparative analysis of four Chinese versions of The Black Cat from two main artistic features of Poe’s short works,namely the "imagery of black cat Pluto" and the "psychologized depiction of horror".Conclusion: Concludes with the reasons why Gothic novels were not taken seriously by mainstream literary criticism in modern China,and analyses the significance of their adaptation and dissemination in popular culture field.