| Robert Coover(1932-) is a well-known contemporary postmodern American writer. The Public Burning is his most important novel. Since its publication in 1977, it has attracted great attention from the critics. Because of its complexity in the theoretical perspectives, characters’ analysis, themes and writing techniques, the interpretations of it present diversified trends, but few researches are systematically done from the perspective of carnivalization. Carnivalization is an important concept in Bakhtinian poetics and it advocates an anti-authoritative ideology.Carnivalization has various forms in different writers’ works. In The Public Burning, it is reflected by the characters’ grotesque behaviors, the dialogism in the text, and the diversity and deviation of language. Based on a close reading of the novel, this thesis tries to interpret the carnivalesque features expressed by the three aspects above in The Public Burning.In light of the carnivalesque characters, Coover creates many characters who have double personalities. He points out that clowns, tricksters and idiots are the representatives of carnivalesque images who are endowed with mysterious implications when they enter the novel.In The Public Burning, Coover creates these main and minor carnivalesque characters respectively. He clearly reveals his doubt to the authority and hypocrisy of American ideology when he makes two incompatible extremes into two features of one character. No absolute character can be found in the novel and all the characters are relative. Creating characters with the perspective of carnivalization can enliven and complicate the simple and rigid characters.In light of the carnivalesque dialogism, Coover uses dialogue as a sharp weapon to fight against the authoritative ideology. As a core of carnivalesque poetics, dialogues flood in all the relationship within the parts of the novels. The whole novel is composed of some close connection between the great dialogue and the microdialogue. Departing from the novel itself,the great dialogue mainly explores the dialogism in the structure, in the worldview, between the characters’ social relationship and between the author and characters. Microdialogue talks about the hidden dialogism within characters’ internal monologue and the dialogism between characters. Through the dialogic theory, various consciousnesses and voices can freely express their mental activities without any interference and establish an equal dialogic status, which highlights the polyphonic quality of the novel.In light of the carnivalesque styles, it is easy to discover the artistic principles of the author’s use of language. As one of the important features of styles, language has its unique artistic values. In the novel, the subversive forces conveyed by the novel’s language forms totally break the traditional novel’s language styles. The application of diversified genres overturns the monotony of previous novel’s language and keep readers’ minds in a state of motion. Thedescription of different linguistic deviations such as the semantic deviation and the grammatical deviation achieves specific language artistic effects. The anti-traditional language forms discharge the traditional novel’s standard language and reveal an intense carnivalesque spirit.The language in the novel can be carnivalized.Besides its role as a means of critique theory, carnivalization can also provide a unique angle to observe the world. Carnivalization is an important artistic feature which can offer an example to analyze The Public Burning. In the carnivalesque atmosphere, it reveals Coover’s suspicion of the absolute authority and ideology that America always advocates. In order to pursue hegemony in the world, American government instigates people’s anti-communist consciousnesses, which proves the absurdity and hypocrisy of American politics. The analysis of the novel presents Coover’s hope of building a utopia filled with equality, freedom as well as diversified coexistence. |
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