Abstract

Death theme and the stream of consciousness have long been important aspects for the literary criticisms of Hemingway’s works in western countries. However, Chinese scholars have mainly focused on Hemingway’s novels in dealing these two aspects which can also be adequately reflected in his short stories. Hemingway’s short stories are closely related to his personal experience and are valuable for us to take the interpretation of Hemingway’s exploration on death theme and the stream of consciousness. This article is to deal with the death theme and the stream of consciousness through close reading of The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

Key words: Hemingway; short story; death theme; the stream of conscious
 
摘 要

死亡主题和意识流写作手法一直是西方国家对海明威作品的两大批评方向。然而，在中国，人们主要通过海明威的长篇小说来研究这两大方面。其实，它们也可以通过海明威的短篇小说充分体现出来。这些短篇小说和他的人生经历息息相关，值得我们对于他的死亡主题和意识流写作方式做进一步的研究和探索。本论文以《乞力马札罗山的雪》为细读文本，探讨海明威作品的死亡主题和意识流写作手法。

关键词：海明威；短篇小说；死亡主题；意识流写作手法

1    Background Information

In 1918, Hemingway participated in WWI. While driving a car through an Italian territory and war zone, he was wounded by shrapnel. During his 20 month stay in the hospital for treatment, 237 pieces of shrapnel were removed from his legs alone. His serious injury left him with insomnia and post traumatic stress disorder. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out; he rushed to the front as a journalist, and witnessed the life and death in the Spanish Civil War. During World War II, he once again went on the entire battlefield as a journalist. In a car accident on the front lines, he got a serious head injury. The wounds were closed with 57 stitches. In the meantime, because of the crash, he had a serious concussion. In 1949, his eye was wounded by a shotgun shell casing. In 1954, while hunting in Africa, he survived a crash. Ernest Hemingway's life was one catastrophe following another. Although he survived every time, the shadow of death struck fear in his heart. Even minor strange happenings took on undue ominous associations. Even the death of his father, suicide, had a tremendous impact on him.