A Study On Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain And The Traditions Of Southern American Literature

Cold Mountain is the first work and the masterpiece of American writer Charles Frazier. The novel make him National Book Award winner, the most important literature prize in America. The movie, adapted from this bestseller, has also got many important film prizes and received favorable social responses. Beginning with an introduction of the novel's nature, the paper will analyze it in the traditional literature field of Southern America, so that it can probe into the inheritance and innovation of the Southern literature traditions. After the overall generalization of the novel, the paper comes to a vital image of Cold Mountain, the illustration of which will help to lift the theme of this paper and understand the author's purpose. In this way, it can further clarify the influence that the novel has on modern society.This paper is divided into five parts:foreword, three chapters in the middle and conclusion.In the foreword, with the main content and the background about Cold Mountain, the present research situation both at home and abroad will be introduced, as well as the purpose and the meaning of this paper.In Chapter One, it will first confirm the identity of Cold Mountain. Before it is analyzed in the traditional literature field of Southern America, knowledge should be gained about what southern American literature is the reason of it existence and its characteristics as a regional literature.In Chapter Two, a specific analysis of Cold Mountain will be given on what inheritance and innovation it has in southern literature. On the one hand, it has inherited the traditional literature feature of gradual vagueness in southern literature which is in the double impact of industrial civilization and consumer culture; on the other hand, while inheriting from the old, the combination of the new historical background and the author's reflection on the society has elevated the traditional literature in the south.Chapter Three is the reading and analysis of the most important image extracted from the novel. The comparison of the two images of'Cold Mountain'in Chinese and Western context will highlight their divergence, which is exactly the unique artistic temperament and aesthetic judgment of Cold Mountain.In conclusion, it will explore the practical meaning that the novel has in modern society. Charles Frazier has built a new art space, which is a world that juxtaposes and co-exists with a real world. The difference is the basis of the world's existence, which guarantees the exchange of all cultures, the means of communication and the existence of multi-culture.Charles Frazier also praised the passed era from what is introduced above, that is, the introduction of the novel's identity, the inheritance and innovation of the novel and the reading of the image. However, what he proposed is a lifestyle that is different from the integrated society. This lifestyle can either be the return to the land or other patterns. The diversity of our civilization won't disappear as long as the difference exists.