A Comparative Study Of Decadent Themes In Shi Zhecun’s And Allan Poe’s Novels

Decadence often reflects a strong sense of vitality and division,which includes the contradiction and suffering of escape from life,the desolation of spirit,the destruction of time,the limitation of survival,and the inner consciousness of death.The dramatic tension in the novel is reduced to some primitive instinctive conflicts.The ablation or damage of the boundary is definitely not the only way to destroy a thing,but whether it is active or passive destruction,there is a sense of boundary ablation.Because the sense of conflict is very strong,decadence itself is a kind of confrontation and a process of purifying desire.Modern literature contains huge subjective pressure,and all objective spirits will move toward self-representation.People have been searching for this self in life and literature,and true objectivity always implies subjectivity.People don’t know what the essence of the "self" that each person expresses in different ways is,and will continue to explore the inner,this is the mystery of existence.Therefore,decadent theme is a topic worthy of in-depth study.Therefore,this thesis will start from the perspective of close reading of the text,take decadence under aesthetic modernity as the theoretical basis,and analyze the decadent theme in Shi Zhecun’s and Allan Poe’s novels from three aspects: eros,disease and death.To explore the manifestations,causes,significance and limitations of decadence,so as to clarify the author’s attitude towards decadence and its value as an independent literary phenomenon.Decadence is an aesthetic attitude towards individual life.Life can be said to be a process of unity and integration of eros,disease,and death.Decadence is the awakening of individual sensibility.Eros,disease,and death jointly summon the subject’s perceptual consciousness,thus forming a modern style.Decadence is inherently anti-rational,and the description of landscape and environment in the novel also exaggerates a sense of decadence.It is with eros,disease and death that the modern aesthetic subject can be constructed in them.The two writers created a decadent emotional atmosphere through the description of eros,disease,death and related psychology,and both expressed their incomparable love for life and compassion for human society.This decadence shows a kind of individuality and is expressed through an abnormal way of existence.It is impossible for humans to get rid of eros,it is the most important manifestation of the continuation of human life.Similarly,it is impossible for human beings to get rid of disease and death in the continuation of life.Disease is a struggle between two opposing forces,eros and death,and the three are united in a causal cycle.Strictly speaking,the various themes of the novel are not distinct,they are a whole that is interrelated and corresponds to each other.This dissertation divides chapters in this way for the convenience of writing,describing the specific manifestations of eros,disease,and death in Shi Zhecun’s and Allan Poe’s novels,combined with specific works to further explain and explain,and make certain evaluations.On this basis,compare the differences between these themes and their expressions,and explore the reasons and the author’s attitude towards them.