| Sociology of knowledge is the study of thoughts and social relationship, focuses on the social role and influence of ideas. Mannheim, Karl is the founder of Sociology of knowledge, which belongs to the classical phase in the development of Sociology of knowledge,discusses mainly how knowledge or thought be produced and developed."Thought of existence of the decision" or "knowledge of social decision" is the basic proposition of Sociology of knowledge and the research topic of "social situation deteminism", which is the center thought of Mannheim’s Sociology of knowledge. This paper will use the theory an method of Sociology of knowledge in Mannheim’s Sociology of knowledge system to carry out the research.Anne Rice, a famous contemporary writer in America, is known as "the mother of vampire", her "Vampire Chronicles"was conceived as "the vampire bible". Rice’s vampire, rich in heart and human nature, subverted the stereotypical impression of scary an evil. Rice showed the realistic society with the Gothic tradition image "vampire", explored the mysteries of human nature through the portrayal of the vampires’heart deeply, reflect the social reality and people’s living conditions and spiritual predicament. Rice caused the vampire heat in the American literature in nineteen eighties, her vampire works has unique way of writing, much morals and philosophical discussion on life, had a profound effect on American popular culture. So far, research on Anne Rice’s works are mostly from the perspective of Psychology, Literature and Religion, rarely from the angle of Sociology, never from the angle of Sociology of knowledge.This paper aims to read the vampire image in "Vampire Chronicles" of Anne Rice’s vampire novels from the perspective of Sociology of knowledge. By using the theory and method of Mannheim’s Sociology of knowledge, the writer strives to explore the relationship between Anne Rice’s vampire and social situation, digs up the roots in which Rice’s vampire were from a deeper level in order to get to know the deeper essence of these vampire and then to explore the academic value and practical significance. At the same time, to fill in the Sociology of knowledge gap in the field of vampire novel, lay the foundation for the further research of Sociology of knowledge in this field in the future.In the introduction part, this paper shows that using the perspective of Sociology of knowledge to study Rice’s vampire novels on the basis of the existing research has important significance and introducea Anne Rice and her "Vampire Chronicles" and the theory and method of Mannheim’s Sociology of knowledge applied in this paper, because of Mannheim’s Sociology of knowledge were influenced deeply by Marx, the writer specifically introduced the relation between Marx and the Sociology of knowledge. At the same time, the writer shows that the vampire image in "Vampire Chronicles" will be divided into early, middle and late image to studied respectively due to the vampire image in chronicles presents obvious periodic differences.In the second chapter, the writer summarized respectively Anne Rice’s three stages of vampire image, including appearance, living conditions, the inner world and the social significance which the author put on. From the perspective of social existence detemines thought, through comparing with traditional vampire images, show the evolving vampire image with the time development, by illustrating the vampire social metaphor, preliminarily reveal the relationship of vampires and social circumstances.In the third chapter, the writer analyzes these three periods of vampire image respectively from the angle of Sociology of knowledge, use the research method of backward to attribute the specific thought in vampire image to a certain angle or way of thinking, then attributes the perspective or way of thinking to the specific social environment and social status, finally find the social origin of Anne Rice’s vampire, to establish the close link between the vampire literature image and society.In the fourth chapter, the writer describes the revelations she gets in the process of analyzing Anne Rice’s vampire image from the perspective of Sociology of knowledge, mainly from the interaction conditions of vampire image and society.The writer uses unified research paradigm to analyze Anne Rice’s three stages of vampire image, to find the root of her vampire image from the author’s own experience, historical traditon, social background and other factors.Through backward analyzing between the specific ideas from vampire image, ways of thinking and social situation, showing clearly the whole process of Anne Rice’s vampire creation. The theory and method of Sociology of knowledge play a unique advantage on getting more close to nature and more profound understanding of Rice’s vampire image, it does not circle in the interior of thought, but stands in a higher angle, analyzes the objiective social process of thought being created with a wilder perspective, thus relative to analysis of Psychology, Literature and so on, it can better avoid parochialism and limitation. |
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