Abstract:Gothic fiction emerged in 18th century. Gothic fiction often sets in castles, ruins and wilderness with horrible plots. This kind of fiction is a special sect among romantic literature. In 19th century, the American writer, Edgar Allan Poe, attracted great attention and argument for horrible plots and pessimistic thoughts. 

　　　The thesis mainly discusses the unique Gothic style and its horrible atmosphere on Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. The thesis analyses the reason why horrible effects is created from figures’ psychology and environment and atmosphere. 

　　　The thesis includes five parts. Part one briefly introduce the meaning, purpose and scope of the thesis and research situation of the similar topic at home and abroad. Part two is about Poe’s life experience and his main works and the development and feature of Gothic fiction. It explores Poe’s distinguishing Gothic fiction from his life, background and works related. Part three analyses the Gothic elements in The Fall of the House of Usher including the environment, inconsistent psychology and writing techniques. And I analyse the reason why this novel shows us an impressive beauty of terror to realize the deep innovation of the novel. Part four focuses on the beauty of terror in this novel including the beauty of decay, the beauty of morbidity and the beauty of death. Part five is a conclusion part. It concludes the unique technique of the beauty of terror in Gothic fiction. what’s more, it explores the deep influence on the development of Gothic fiction and the profound achievements that Poe had made.

Keywords: Edgar Allan Poe; Gothic fiction; terror; aesthetics

摘要:哥特小说作为一种小说的体裁，产生于18世纪，这种小说通常以古堡废墟或荒野为背景，故事情节恐怖刺激。此类小说通常被视为浪漫主义文学中的一个特殊流派。美国19世纪作家埃德加·爱伦·坡的作品想来因其离奇、恐怖的情节和悲观的思想而受到读者和评论家们的关注和争议。

　　　本文主要论述爱伦·坡哥特小说《厄舍古屋的倒塌》中体现的哥特小说独特的风格及本文营造的恐怖氛围，从小说人物心理与环境渲染两方面分析恐怖效果形成的原因。

　　　本文分为五个个部分：第一部分简要概述明本课题的意义、目的、研究范围；本课题在国内外的发展概况及存在的问题；第二部分主要介绍爱伦·坡的生平及主要作品和哥特式小说特点、发展历程。从作者生平、生活背景、作品及风格展开论述其哥特式风格。第三部分主要分析《厄舍古屋的倒塌》一文的恐怖风格。从其写作手法展开，关注文中环境渲染与矛盾心理描写，分析小说呈献出逼真恐怖美感的原因，从而了解小说通过恐怖表达的深层涵义。第四部分分析《厄舍古屋的倒塌》一文中展现的恐怖之美，主要从其腐朽之美、病态之美和死亡之美出发。第五部分为全文总结，总结坡展现哥特式恐怖美的独特手法以及这种独具特色的写作手法对于哥特式小说发展的深远影响，坡对于恐怖小说发展的重要作用。

关键词：爱伦·坡；哥特式小说；恐怖；美学