A Study On Post-modernist Uncertainty As Reflected In The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman

Angela Carter(1940-1992)is one of the most exclusively creative writers in British literature circle.Her works are varied in terms of their stylistic features and literary genres.Her writing style is characterized by a mix of many types such as Gothic,magical realism,surrealism and science fiction,and is imbued with bizarre imagination and resplendent language.Angela Carter is a productive writer.Within the short span of her lifetime,she created nine novels and four collections of short stories,and compiled three collections of fairy tales as well as translated three fairy tale collections from French.In addition,she also authored a large number of articles for newspapers and magazines and published these articles in collections.In the meantime,her works also include three collections of literary criticism,two collections of poems and some radio and television scripts.Margaret Atwood commented on Carter's works in an interview,saying that "her works are too peculiar to define and there is no appropriate denomination to define them as they are so extremely unusual that they can be termed as unique." Thus for the most part of her lifetime,Angela Carter was a controversial writer.The In.fernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman was published in 1972,which marks the transformation of Carter's writing style.Ali Smith rated this work as a real classic by Carter as well as a classic without due reputation.After receiving the publisher's rejection letter,in which all the editors proposed a consistent opinion,"this book is beyond comprehension",Carter realized that The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman would be "the beginning of her notoriety".When reading this book,the readers tend to be overwhelmed with an intensive feeling of uncertainty.Virtually speaking,such uncertainty is not only one of the textual characteristics of this novel but also Carter's creation strategy.Uncertainty is one of the fundamental features of post-modernist literature,and this paper takes The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman as the research subject and analyses the uncertainty based on postmodernist literary theories.The paper comprises three sections:the introduction,the main body and the conclusion,and the main body is divided into four chapters.The introduction deals with the reason for the selection of the topic,research status at home and abroad,the significance of the research and research methodology.To date,domestic researches into the works of Angela Carter mainly center on her short stories and her later novels,with few on The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman which was created during her transforming period.This book is distinctively characterized by post modernism,which makes it feasible to conduct research on this work with a focus on uncertainty.The paper comprehensively adopted many theories and review methods such as post-modernist literary theories,narratology,social-history review,psychoanalysis criticism and desire triangle theories in order to study the issues on uncertainty as reflected in The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman,which constitutes a pioneering research in China.Chapter ? is to discuss the uncertain of themes,which is embodied in the ambiguity of war theme,love theme and pursuit theme.In Carter's words,the whole war was waged in a surrealism climate,and the author didn't stick to the description of war scenes or the definition of the nature of the war but instead she was committed to the excavation of the origin of the causes that lead people to kill each other.The protagonists' love story was taken as the principal line and several different love modes were considered and disapproved in the novel,but none of an ideal love mode was provided.The uncertainty of the pursuit theme was embodied in the changeable character of the goal that the characters are pursuing and in the disorientation felt by the pursuers on their way to the goal.Chapter ? is to analyze the uncertainty of the characters,and the three main characters of the novel are dealt with.The external identity of Desiderio lacks unification and his inner self is a schizoid.Albertine is not a real entity but rather virtualized into a symbol.Doctor Hoffman lacks consistency of behavior and meanwhile he is an avatar of antonym.Chapter ? is to discuss the uncertainty of narrative.Firstly the uncertainty of retrospectiveness of the first person narration in the novel is discussed.Secondly,the uncertainty of the narrative structure as reflected in the two aspects of nesting structure and narrative function is discussed.Finally,the application in the novel of such post modernist narrative strategies as intertextuality and meta-fiction are dealt with.Chapter ? is to analyze the causes of the uncertainty in the novel from the two perspectives of the writer's personal background and the social and historical background.The former cause is to be dealt with in relation to the author's family environment,her travelling experiences in Japan and the relationship between the writer and post-modernism;the social and historical cause involves the survival crisis under the backdrop of Cold War and the various radical political movements in 1960s and the influence of post-modernist thoughts.The conclusion is to review the post-modernist characteristics of Angela Carter's works as reflected in The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman and to reveal the practical significance of this novel.