摘要
美国西部通俗小说源远流长,至今已有180年的历史,其主要特征可以被概括为模式小说。西部通俗小说是以美国西部为大背景展开故事,以西部边疆生活为题材的小说。其作为美国通俗小说的一支,具有很强的商业性质,很多作品登上过畅销书榜首的宝座。西部小说,连同其他通俗小说,都是模式小说。西部通俗小说模式可分为两方面:文化模式和情节模式。本文分析了模式小说的概念,区分了西部小说发展中的两条道路:严肃性的西部小说和通俗性的西部小说,并介绍了该类通俗小说的起源,总结了其发展中的四个支流。
American popular western fiction is a formulaic literature form that covers over one hundred and eighty years. The background of the stories is set on the vast territory of American West. As a popular literature form, popular western fictions are very impressive with their commercial performance. Many of them became Bestsellers or Top Bestsellers. Then, popular western fiction, like the other popular fiction genres, is a formulaic literature. It combines these two sorts of formulaic literary phenomenon-cultural convention and repetitive plot. This paper attempts an analysis of the formulaic approach of this literature form, distinguishes between popular western fiction and serious western fiction, introduces its origin and summarizes the following four phases during its process of evolution.
