1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

in literary criticism, bildungsroman, a more technical term forcoming-of-age story, is “a literary genre that focuses on the psychological andmoral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood, in which characterchange is extremely important”. of all themes that may appear in that genre,growth in solitude is among the ones most favored by novelists. born in theearly twentieth century, thomas wolfe was considered a real master of languageafter the publication of his first novel lookhomeward, angel, in which the writer’s passions for expressing himself andhis lyrical phrases, as well as the solitary life of its protagonist, eugene,have won him great reputation, and incurred strict criticism at the same time.

after publication, the novel has become one of the bestsellers inamerica, receiving massive approbation from the literary world. since the1940s, literary critics have conducted researches and analysis on the novel’swriting style of autobiography, technique of stream of consciousness, whichhave produced fruitful outcomes in the study of thomas wolfe and his works.there also emerged a collection of excellent articles exploring the themes ofhis works, which later were discovered by a bunch of outstanding scholarsadopting a new perspective of criticism---psychoanalysis, and concluded themain themes of estrangement, self-exile, death and love as wolfe’s most favoredchoices.

despite its enduring popularity, the novel hasalso become a focus of critical concern at the same time. due to its lengthiness and sprawling style, thebook has incurred harsh criticism from the literary critical community. thereare literary critics, harold bloom and james wood among them, viewing wolfe’swork as undisciplined and largely "formless autobiography". therenowned critic bernard de voto has hurled a string of outspoken and sometimesprovocative comments on thomas wolfe as well as his writing, accusing wolfe ofignoring the coherence among various elements of the novel, loading his writingwith fancy phrases and purposeless words. although de voto’s criticism to someextent holds water, the contemporary author william faulkner considered wolfe as“the greatest talent of their generation for aiming higher than any otherwriter”. paschal reeves, an american researcher and editor, once called thisnovel a “sensation”, and described it as “having struck the literary world bystorm”. until now, wolfe’s works have invariably been favored by a great numberof american readers, and a heated object in the literary circle.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

contents

1 introduction

1.1 thomas wolfe and his works

3. 研究计划与安排

before 1st january: settlement of thetitle

before 1st march: submission of theoutline

before 15th april: submission of the firstdraft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1] bloom,harold (february 8, 1987). "passionate beholder of america introuble". new york times. retrieved 16 october 2012.

[2] reeves,paschal, ed. (1974). thomas wolfe: the critical reception. d. lewis.

[3] shaw, j.thomas wolfe: study of a wanderer[j]. journalof applied psychoanalytic studies, 2000(2).