An#160;Analysis#160;of#160;the#160;Aesthetic#160;Value in#160;The#160;Postman#160;Always#160;Rings Twice#160;Based#160;on#160;the#160;Theory#160;of#160;Narratology 基于叙事学理论分析《邮差总按两遍铃》的美学价值文献综述

 2023-04-27 17:45:11

文献综述

文 献 综 述1.Introduction1.1 Research background Ever since its birth in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe published his first detective story, detective fiction has gone through a history of more than 180 years, from the early classic detective stories in the nineteenth century and the hard-boiled detective novels which start to emerge in the late 1920s, to the newly-emerged schools of detective fiction after the Second World War. In 1930s~1940s, the noir fiction flourished in the United States and was mainly presented by James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Its prosperity in this time had a particularly social environment of the United States. As it is known that the United States encountered a great economic crisis in 1929 and this crisis lasted four years, when the whole society turned into the abyss of inflation, unemployment, homelessness and great depression. During the Great Depression, the United States faced its most severe internal crisis since the Civil War. The social morality began to degenerate and corrupt, which fostered the development of gangland forces who colluded with the local VIPs, lawyers and even the law enforcement authorities. The violent events and crime emerged endlessly and the laws and regulations were severely challenged. Moreover, the traditional morality was under the line of collapse. In this depraved context, the noir fiction emerged to describe the reality and make a sharp satire to some evil phenomena.1.2 James M. Cain and The Postman Always Rings TwiceJames M. Cain was born in an Irish Catholic family in Maryland in 1892. His father was a famous educator and his mother was an opera singer. Cain inherited his mothers love of music, especially opera. Under his mothers influence, he even wanted to be an opera singer. But his mother dissuaded him, telling him that his voice was not good enough to sing opera. Although felt disappointed, opera as an art form would later influence his writing. The narration and dialogue with a strong sense of rhythm, as well as the intense dramatic conflicts in The Postman Always Rings Twice, all vaguely reveal a sense of opera. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hard-boiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the noir fiction. Cain published The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1934, and he also created several novels afterwards, of which Double Indemmity, Serenade, Mildred Pierce and Butterfly were the most famous.The Postman Always Rings Twice is the novel that changed Cains life. It was a huge success at that time and it has been a bestseller ever since. Literary historians consider it perhaps the first mega-bestseller in American publishing history and the true originator of noir literature or film and its hard to find a book in that genre that was really better thanThe Postman Always Rings Twice. This short novel ranks among the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century and has been adapted for the screen four times. The Postman Always Rings Twice tells readers a hopeless and depressing story in which the characters just could not escape their own destiny and the black atmosphere can be seen everywhere. This short fiction has only 80,000 words in 16 chapters. The story happened at a little tavern called Twin Oaks Tavern in California. The employee Frank and the hostess Cora loved each other crazily. In order to get together all the time, they decided to get rid of the host Nick forever. So they planned to hit Nick to death with a blackjack in the bathroom, but this scheme failed because of a cat stepping off the ladder onto the fuse box. Then they had another try by making a false car accident to kill Nick and this time they succeeded. With the help of an unscrupulous lawyer, they escaped the trial and got a great amount of insurance benefit. When they got rid of all the obstacles for their love, instead of having a happy ending, they began to doubt, hurt and torture each other until the end of their lives.1.3 The Theory of NarratologySimply put, narratology is the science of studying narrative texts, which focus on the technical analysis of narrative texts. Narratology of novel rose in the West in 1960s, and it is the theory analyzing the narrating structures and narrating specialties of novels. 2.Literature reviewJames M. Cain was an outstanding American author and screenwriter in the first half of the twentieth century and he created many popular works in his life. Most of his works are popular novels and he is good at laying out plots, depicting the erotic entanglements of men and women and human conflicts. He is especially famous for his description of hard-boiled school of American crime fiction and is considered as one of the creators of the noir fiction. The Postman Always Rings Twice is an example of the kind of work Cain created. Several of his crime novels have been adapted into movies and achieved great success. Scholars abroad have already had certain research and understanding of this work.2.1 Studies AbroadWhen The Postman Always Rings Twice was published, the novel shocked readers and critics because they had never seen a work like this. There were an increasing number of western scholars came to investigate Cain and his works and comment on The Postman Always Rings Twice from different dimensions.Edmund Wilson was one of the first eminent critics to comment on James M. Cain. He called him the poet of the tabloid murder, and later he is called the noir fiction writer.In the Western countries, most of the scholars research this novel within the framework of noir fiction, which is a relative mature system. Although Cain himself tried to get rid of the labeling of hard-boiled school. They studied the danger, depravity, and death in the novel. For example, in the article Tails, Gunflights, and Murder：The Role of the Automobile in the Noir Fiction of James M Cain and Raymond Chandler (2011), Smoak holds the view that the automobile becomes a tool for escape, smuggling and homicide. For this reason, the car is endowed with the meaning of darkness. Some scholars lay emphasis on the analysis of the psychology of the protagonists in the novel. They think in terms of morality, American society is corrupt. And because of moral collapse, ethical ambiguity and the pursuit of happiness in twentieth century that lead to the murder. In a word, studies abroad mainly focus on the analysis of noir fiction and the psychology of the protagonists and moral collapse reflected in the novel.2.2 Studies in ChinaCompared with foreign countries, domestic research on Cain started relatively late. In the beginning, they put emphasis on the translation of James M. Cains works, and then scholars paid more attention to research the novel from the perspective of American social background, the female image, human nature, and the narration angle etc.The perspective of the female image is discussed by some researchers. In the article The awakening of female consciousness in American film noir in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Feng Ning (2011) argues that Cora is the typical femme fatale, who struggles to break free of the barriers of marriage, embodies the unique awakening of female consciousness. In the article The Postman Always Rings Twice --- the Ordinary People for Life, Lin Zuo (2011) says the protagonists are ordinary people like everyone, who are greedy, fond of material comforts, cowardly, and have irrational passions. They break the law for their own obsessiveness and are afraid of the punishment, but are scourged by their conscience. Even their love isnt indestructible, but is bound by material conditions and withers in the face of fear. True humanity is showed in the novel.Of course, apart from the studies above, there are many other analyses from other aspects. In conclusion, some progress has been made in the study of this work by scholars in China, but it lacks comprehensive and systematic researches and need more researchers to fill the blank.2.3 Need for the StudyThis thesis is aimed to analyze the noir style in James M. Cains The Postman Always Rings Twice from the theoryofnarratology. Although nowadays, many scholars have tried to apply the theoryofnarratology to analyze literary works, the research scope is not as large as it should be, let alone the minor literary genre --- noir fiction. In China, the noir fiction nearly has not been drawn much attention by scholars and it should not be forgotten, for its calm description of the reality, satire of the evil phenomena and probe into the depth of humans hearts. As for The Postman Always Rings Twice, some researchers and scholars have tried to study it from different perspectives, such as the theme, typical characters, social background, the writing techniques, but it seldom has been researched from the theoryofnarratology. With the combination of the theoryofnarratology and the noir fiction, it can provide a more convincing research for the noir style and broaden the research field of literary stylistics. A marriage of the theoryofnarratology and noir fiction will benefit both literary stylistic study and noir style study. It will help readers to develop a deep understanding of the theme of this fiction and experience its aesthetic values comprehensively. Moreover, it also provides relatively new method for literary criticism and it has a realistic significance of raising the acceptability of this fiction to Chinese readers and audience.References:An Jie. A Study of Black Humor --- Background, Origin, Themes, Narrative, Strategies and Artistic Techniques. Northwest Normal University, 2004.Cain, James M. Career in Major and Other Fiction. New York: McGraw-Hill Press,1996.Cain, James M. The Postman Always Rings Twice. Shanghai: Shanghai TranslationPress, 2013.Davenport, Gray. American Noir Fiction: of Three Decades. The Sewanee Review, 1999, (1): 126-133.Huang Lushan. The Origin and Development of British Noir Fiction. Shanghai University, 2005.Leech, G. N. and Michael, H. Short. Style in Fiction. London: Longman, 1991.Penzler, Otto. Noir Fiction Is about Losers, not Private Eyes. The Huffington Post, 2014, (2): 162-164.Polito, Robert. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s. New York: The Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation, 2013.Shore, Jake. What Is Narrative Rhythm?. Demand Media, 2013, (2): 89-90.Tuttle, George. What Is Noir?. Mystery Scene, 1994, (1): 28-35.Zinsser, David. James M. Cain, The Art of Fiction. The Paris Review, 1997, (3): 9-25.林佐,《邮差总按两遍铃》为了生而普通的人. 厦门航空, 2011, (4): 78.任晓晓, 从文学文体学视角解读《邮差总按两遍铃》中的黑色风格. 华北电力大学, 2017.杨向荣, 詹姆斯 凯恩访谈录. 青年文学, 2007, (4): 122-128.易杨, 命运的圈套一读凯恩长篇《邮差总按两遍铃》.书城, 2013, (7): 67-68.

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