On Freudianism And Sherwood Anderson's Literary Creation

As one of the creators of American modern fiction, Sherwood Anderson holds a very special position in American modern literature. During the past century,. literary critics in America and other countries come to realize Anderson's contributions to American literature, and they analyze and probe into Anderson's works from different angles. However, on the topic of "the relationship between Anderson and Freudianism"they show great differences. Some critics, represented by Hoffman and Burrow, hold that Sherwood Anderson didn't read any books about Freud's psychoanalysis, and didn't get any materials from it for his writing; while other critics represented by West Rebecca and Michaud Regis regard Anderson as "American Freud", "a typical novelist of the school of Freudianism."Chinese scholar Wang Ning also thinks that Anderson approved of and accepted Freudian main ideas, and applied them into his literary writing. This thesis combines the analysis of Anderson's several short stories and novels from the discussion of Freudian influence on literature, and expounds Anderson's attitude toward Freudianism from three aspects of "the theme of works", "writing techniques", and "characterization". On one hand, Anderson accepts Freud's main ideas directly or indirectly, which is reflected in his application of as "stream of consciousness", "Oedipus Complex", and "the theme of sex"; on the other hand, Anderson shows his reservation about the acceptance, which is reflected in his partial employment of Realism and Naturalism, conversational style, and the revealing of the social causes of characters'inner bitterness.