3。 The Archetype of “Light” 10

3。1 The General Meaning of Archetypal “Light” in Mythologies 10

3。2 The Extended Meaning of Light 11

4。 The Analysis of Light from Archetypal Perspective in All the Light We Cannot See 13

4。1 The Positive Power of Archetypal Light 13

4。2 The Negative Power of Archetypal Light 17

4。3 The Power of Light for Blind People 18

5。 Conclusion 20

References 21

1。 Introduction

1。1 Research Background 来自优Y尔L论W文Q网wWw.YouERw.com 加QQ7520~18766

Anthony Doerr is an American author of novels and short stories。 He was born in 1973, raised in Cleveland, Ohio, America, and attended the nearby University School, where he graduated in 1991。 Then majored in history at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, he graduated in 1995, and earned an MFA from Bowling Green State University。 In 2002, Doerr's published his first book, The Shell Collector, a collection of short stories and won Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award and Ohioana Book Award。 In 2010, he wrote another book of short stories called Memory Wall and won The Story Prize and Guggenheim Fellowship。 His first novel, About Grace, was released in 2004, and wrote a memoir, Four Seasons in Rome, published in 2007。 Doerr also writes a column on science books for the Boston Globe and is a contributor to The Morning News, an online magazine。 From 2007 to 2010, he was the writer-in-residence for the state of Idaho。

As a young author of novels and short stories in modern time, Anthony Doerr is not as celebrated as those great masters in past time。 However, his expertly crafted novels were welcomed by readers。 And he gained widespread recognition for his second novel – All the Light We Cannot See。 The book received great critical praise。 It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and reached among the tops of the New York Times bestseller list, and also was recommended by the newspaper as a notable book of 2014。 It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the second prize of Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction and Ohioana Library Association Book Award for Fiction in 2015。 

Doerr has said the reason which made him to write this novel was that he once found that as a kind of electromagnetic light, radio played such an indispensable role in our life but was easily being ignored by people, because of its invisibility。 The book narrates two main characters’ experience-- the French blind girl Marie-Laure and the Germen orphan boy Werner Pfennig during the World War Ⅱ。 They are connected by radio。 Radio leads Werner to a new world of knowledge and death changes his life, but also leads him to save Marie-Laure。 

1。2 Research Significance

Although it seems coincidental for Doerr to win the Pulitzer Prize in the year of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the anti-fascist war, it is the best evidence to prove his stunning writing。 Here is the reason for his victory in Pulitzer Prize: “An imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology。”(Pulitzer Prize, 2015) He almost knows about everything—radios, diamonds, molluscs, birds, flowers, guns—which makes it possible for him to write all these vividly and beautifully。 He also makes people to think life, love, cruelty and kindness in a different way。