Abstract：In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, ghost culture belonged to subculture both in China and western countries, and was marginalized in their literary history respectively. As the representative literary works known for depicting ghost images and describing anecdotes, both Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio and Anne Rice’s vampire novel series portray various ghost figures so as either to narrate the customs and traditions of ghosts directly or to criticize the national incorrigibility implicitly, revealing the mundane desire and spiritual anguish of toiling masses. From the perspective of comparative literature, the thesis will resort to literary works by Pu Songling and Anne Rice as the basis, delve into the ghost images in Chinese and American literary works as the object of study, explore various factors that cause those similarities and differences, and analyze the themes of society and humanity contained in the works. 

This thesis includes six chapters. Chapter One introduces different definitions and understanding on ghost and ghost culture between the east and the west, their origins, respective status and practical significance in each literary history. Chapter Two as literature review gives the previous domestic and overseas studies on ghost literature. Chapter Three and Chapter Four expound the manifestation of ghosts in eastern and western literary works to shed light on distinct themes and implications, as well as the forming causes of the distinction from the perspective of historical influence and religious culture. Chapter Five aims to uncover writers’ attitudes towards and reflections on society and humanity, and symbolic values of the above-mentioned works. Chapter Six deduces the content discussed before, drawing the conclusion that east or west, ghost images are rooted in reality, reflecting the human world, playing a significant role in preaching the doctrine and alerting the world.

Key Words: ghost literature, vampire, anti-feudal ethics, society and humanity

摘要：十八、十九世纪，鬼文化在中西方都属于亚文化，在各自文学史上处于边缘地位。作为以描绘鬼怪形象、记述奇异故事而著称的文学作品代表，蒲松龄的《聊斋志异》和安妮•赖斯的吸血鬼系列丛书均从别样的文学视角切入，刻画了姿态各异的鬼形象，或直接抒写鬼俗民情，或隐喻批判国民劣根性，显现了“鬼”文学写作特殊而鲜活的形态，揭示了劳苦大众的世俗欲望和精神痛苦。本文从比较文学的视角出发，以中美文学作品中的鬼形象为研究对象，探讨造成这些异同的各种因素，剖析了作品中蕴含的社会主题和对人性的思考。

本篇论文共分为六部分。第一部分介绍中西方对于鬼和鬼文化不同的定义和理解，各自的起源及在文学史上的地位及现实意义。第二部分作为文献综述，简要阐述了中外文学研究者在鬼怪文学领域已有的贡献及较少涉及的部分。第三部分对中西方文学作品中鬼形象的表现形式进行解读。第四部分探讨这些作品中所蕴含的主题思想，并从历史背景、宗教文化两方面入手，分析鬼文化在中西方国家产生并表现出差异的原因。第五部分揭露作者欲通过这些作品所要表达的对于社会或生活的态度及思考。第六部分归纳前章，得出结论：无论是在中方还是西方，鬼形象的产生都源于现实世界，反映人类社会，有着宣扬教义、警戒世人等现实意义。

关键词：鬼怪文学，吸血鬼，反封建礼教，社会与人性 

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments i

Abstract..ii

摘要..iii

1 Introduction.1

1.1 Definition & Origin of Ghosts.1

1.2 Practical Significance of Ghosts in the Field of Literature3

1.3 Literature Review5