摘 要

《伤心咖啡馆之歌》是20世纪美国南方作家卡森.麦卡勒斯的经典小说之一。在这篇小说中，卡森.麦卡勒斯向我们讲述了一段发生在女主人公爱密利亚小姐和年轻英俊的马文马西以及雷蒙表哥之间的诡异荒诞的三角恋情。本文旨从主题渲染，情节构造，场景设置和性格刻画四个方面来探讨该小说的哥特式特征，体会哥特式小说独特的艺术魅力,并最终更好的理解全文。

关键词: 卡森.麦卡勒斯；伤心咖啡馆之歌；哥特式特征

Contents

1. Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration-------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.1 The Gothic theme in The Ballad of the sad cafe-----------------------------------------3

2.1.1 The theme of darkness--------------------------------------------------------------------3

2.1.2 The theme of loneliness ------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.2 The Gothic plot in The Ballad of The Sad Cafe-----------------------------------------5

2.2.1 The weird plot -----------------------------------------------------------------------------5

2.2.2 The mysterious plot ----------------------------------------------------------------------6

2.3 The Gothic setting in The Ballad of The Sad Cafe--------------------------------------6

2.3.1 The gloomy scene ------------------------------------------------------------------------7

2.3.2 The inclement weather -------------------------------------------------------------------8

2.4. The Gothic characterization in The Ballad of The Sad Cafe--------------------------9

2.4.1 Amelia --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

2.4.2 Marvin Marcy----------------------------------------------------------------------------10

2.4.3 Cousin Ramon----------------------------------------------------------------------------12

3. Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13

Notes---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14Works Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

Bibliography-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

The Gothic Feathers in The Ballad of The Sad Cafe

1. Introduction

Carson McCullers (1917-1967) is one of the famous female Southern writers in twentieth Century who graduated from Columbia University of New York. Her achievement is outstanding and she is among the world's classic writers due to the short story The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, four long novels-The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding, Reflections in a Golden Eye and Clock without Hands. She not only writes novels, but also writes plays, essays and poetries. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the South. Her other novels have similar themes and are all set in the South. Apart from that, she was a writer who had a confused, dramatic personal life from a psychological as well as physical perspective. The feelings of alienation and suffering were prevalent in her life and had a direct influence on her writing. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is a direct reflection of her personal suffering and has been hailed as a book since its inception in 1943, which was published in"Harper's Bazaar" in August, 1943, collected in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: Carson McCullers’ short story collection and attracted widespread attention in the literary and criticism world since its publish.

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is one of the representative America Southern Gothic fiction¹, which tells us a triangle love story taking place between Amelia, cousin Ramon and Marvin Marcy. Amelia is rich and capable, "bones and muscles grow like a man", while the most handsome man Marvin Marcy in the town just falls in love with her, he changes the hooligan habits and becomes serious, after two years’ pursue he gathers up all his courage to ask her to marry him. But the marriage only lasts 10 days. Marcy becomes a villain again, Amelia continues to enjoy her quiet life until hunchback cousin Ramon comes to the town. She falls in love with him crazily. After 6 years Marcy granted parole, cousin Ramon falls in love with him at first sight . He tries to please him, a deformity triangle love and conflict began to perform. The novel expresses an eternal love theme in a strange, mysterious and fantastic way -- loneliness, and proves its inevitability with absurd love. With a unique view, ingenious design and exquisite style, this novel is full of gothic color which follows Allan Poe' s narrative technique, consists of strange, mysterious atmosphere and abnormal characters.