ABSTRACT

An Ethical Reading of the Aesthetics of Terror in Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most unique writers in the literary history of America. His major achievements lie in his inheritance and innovation of the Gothic stories, and the development of aesthetics of terror. In Poe’s aesthetic system, beauty is regarded as the core. This is a kind of idealized beauty which is detached from the reality and is even against social morality in reality. The aesthetics of terror in Poe’s short stories is embodied mainly in three aspects: the choice of the theme, characterization and settings. This paper is aimed to have an ethical reading of the aesthetics of terror in Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories to shed light on his profound ethical reflection. 

Keywords：Allen Poe; Aesthetics of Terror; Gothic; Ethics

愛(ài)倫•坡短篇小說(shuō)中恐怖美學(xué)的倫理解讀

摘  要：愛(ài)倫•坡是美國(guó)的獨(dú)具特色的作家之一。他因在文學(xué)創(chuàng)作上的貢獻(xiàn),特別是對(duì)哥特式文學(xué)的繼承和創(chuàng)新,以及對(duì)恐怖美學(xué)的發(fā)展而舉世聞名。在愛(ài)倫•坡的美學(xué)思想中，美麗被認(rèn)為是核心。這是一種理想化的美，它脫離現(xiàn)實(shí)，甚至違背普遍的社會(huì)道德觀。愛(ài)倫坡的恐怖美學(xué)在短篇小說(shuō)上體現(xiàn)的尤為明顯，主要集中在三個(gè)方面：主題、人物刻畫(huà)和背景設(shè)定。本文目的就是對(duì)愛(ài)•倫坡的短篇小說(shuō)做一個(gè)倫理解讀，以揭示隱藏在他恐怖美學(xué)之下的深沉倫理思考。

關(guān)鍵詞:愛(ài)倫•坡；恐怖美學(xué)；哥特式；倫理