Abstract

As one of the most celebrated modern novelists in American literary history, Hemingway is characterized by his unique writing style through which he changes the traditional literary works from a tedious style into a concise one. This style is called the Iceberg Theory. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the Iceberg Theory is reflected in his two short stories: Hills Like White Elephants (1927) and A Clean, Well-lighted Place (1933). To fully understand Hemingway’s use of Iceberg Theory, several excerpts will be taken and analyzed from the two short stories mentioned above. And the author will mainly focus on the plot construction and dialogue creation. This study shows some distinguishing features of the Iceberg Theory do exist in Hemingway’s literary creation, that is, the concise plot building and the real-life dialogue. With this knowledge of his writing style, we can better understand Hemingway’s works.

Key words: Hemingway, the Iceberg Theory, plot construction, dialogue

Contents
Acknowledgements    I
摘要    II
Abstract    III
 Introduction    1
1  Literature Review of the Iceberg Theory    3
1.1 A Brief Introduction to the Iceberg Theory    3
1.2 Iceberg Theory Studies Abroad    4
1.3 Iceberg Theory Studies at Home    5
2 An Analysis of the Iceberg Theory in Plot Construction    7
2.1 Plot Construction in Hills Like White Elephants    7
2.2 Plot Construction in A Clean, Well-lighted Place    8
3 An Analysis of the Iceberg Theory in Dialogue Creation    11
3.1 Dialogue Creation in Hills Like White Elephants    11
3.2. Dialogue Creation in A Clean, Well-lighted Place    13
 Conclusion    16
Notes    18
References    19