Healing The Wounds A Thematic Study Of Ethan Canin's Works

Ethan Canin, an American writer and a physician of the contemporary time, is by nature a poet and a scientist rolled into one. His double identities bless his works with a scientist's acute perception and precise description as well as an artist's romantic heart and poetic skills. The heroes (only occasionally heroines) created by Canin are also of the same nature and fiber as Canin. With varying life experiences, they suffer from a variety of wounds, physically and psychologically, badly needing to be healed.This thesis is to explore and study the common theme of Canin's literary works—Healing the Wounds. Two novels and seven short stories are discussed in detail to contribute to the analysis. With Freudian Personality Dynamics serving as a theoretical basis, the discussion in this thesis can be divided into three parts, namely,"The To-Be-Healed","The Healing"and"The Healed". First of all,"The To-Be-Healed", or in other words, the subjects and targets of Canin's works are given a careful analysis, which is followed by"The Healing", in which part the methods and techniques employed in Canin's fiction are analyzed. In the third part"The Healed", the result of healing is discussed. It suggests that with the cooperation of readers and the author, Canin's fictive persons are healed. Moreover, readers and the author also benefit from the healing process, releasing their suppressed selves in interpretative reading and creative writing respectively. The thesis is concluded with a notion that the writing process is a process for the author to heal the wounds of men, with Canin's fictive persons, readers and himself being included.To grasp the common theme of Canin's stories makes it possible to better understand all his literary creations. To comprehend the essence of his works in a better way helps gain a profound perception of life and love. Furthermore, the thematic study also enables readers to decode physician writers'unique writing psychology, together with the double-identified selves revealed in their literary creation.