论约翰·厄普代克《夫妇们》中的享乐主义思想-英语语言文学专业论文.docxVIP

Acknowledgements Three years in ones whole life may only be a fleeting duration. But my three-year study at Hunan University of Science and Technology means special to me and will prove to be significant in my whole life. So my hearted thanks go to my supervisor, Prof. Zeng Yanyu. I am grateful to her for her encouragement, inspiration, and affectionate proddings whenever I needed. It is she who, with her motherly love, her unhurried kind of talking, drove away the cloud of unhappiness from me when I feel low. She also enlightened me in academic researching. The generous gift of her time and the inspiration she provides is truly appreciated. My thanks extend to Prof. Song Defa of Xiangtan University, who generously borrowed me a lot of important overseas literatures which have a great help to my research. My special thanks go to Dr. Lin Jiane, Dr. Lv Aijing, and Dr. Wang Taohua, whose love of literature and high standards for academic excellence and collegiality have been invaluable to me as I researched and wrote the dissertation. I wish to thank the faculties in the School of Foreign Studies of Hunan University of Science and Technology for all the conveniences provided during my three-year study here. I thank my friend Ms. Liumin, Ms. Chenru and Ms. Zhan Jiali for their help whenever I needed. Finally, my family has been the basic source of my strength and a constant source of reassurance and encouragement, so I would like to take this chance to thank them. i ABSTRACT This thesis, basing on the text of the novel and combining with the social background of writing, probes the hedonistic life style of the American middle class and analyzes the hedonism thought in the novel. And by analyzing the game of spouse-swapping, it reveals the hollow spiritual life and the loss of religious belief and social morality. Couples is a story about the daily life of ten couples who live in the town of Tarbox in American. Through the depicting of a small society and several couples