科幻與志異小說之詭異連結

The Uncanny Connection between the Gothic and Science Fiction

張起綸(Chang, Alex Cheeloun)

指導教授 ： 陳皇華

國立清華大學/人文社會學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2014年)

摘要

作為一個推測人類面對現今或未來不斷進步的科技所產生的反應之文類，科幻小說(Science Fiction)和過去的志異小說(gothic fiction)皆有嘗試著展現啟蒙運動(Enlightenment)無法解釋的詭異感(uncanny)。當代的科幻小說經常使用機械人、人工智慧、生化科技等主題的潛藏危機和寓意來試圖營造出詭異感；而十八和十九世紀的志異小說則是使用各類的超自然現象來達成同樣效果。這篇論文將會分析三個文本中的詭異現象以推論早期的科幻小說是脫離渥波爾(Horace Walpole)在《奧托蘭多城堡》所建立的超自然志異小說傳統之作品。本論文首先將利用泰芮卡索(Terry Castle)於The Female Thermometer中所定義的詭異現象來分析渥波爾的《奧托蘭多城堡》，並建立詭異現象的定義為被壓抑的重返(return of the repressed)。下一章節將會使用霍夫曼(E.T.A. Hoffmann)的《沙人》重新檢視佛洛伊德《詭異感》(“The Uncanny”)一文作為文學分析的缺陷，且分析其故事中為製造詭異現象而使用的非超自然元素。論文最後將會分析同時是科幻和志怪小說的作品—瑪麗．雪萊(Mary Shelley)的《科學怪人》，並強調早期的科幻作為一種文類可說是藉由利用非超自然、科學的故事元素承襲並拓展志怪小說中的詭異感。

關鍵字

詭密 ； 志異小說 ； 科幻 ； 科學怪人 ； 沙人

並列摘要

As a genre which attempts to speculate human reactions towards present and future technological advancement, science fiction shares an affinity with the gothic genre wherein various “uncanny” themes left unexplained by the Enlightenment appeared. While modern science fiction might involve robotics, artificial intelligence, or biotechnology in response to the implications of scientific development, gothic fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries instead used various supernatural elements—automata, dancing dolls, and ghostly apparitions—to create the uncanny effect. Therefore, this thesis will attempt to determine the appearance of the uncanny effect within three texts to further the argument that early science fiction’s lineage might be traced to Gothic works which deviated from the supernatural pattern established since Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. This project will first utilize Terry Castle’s definition of the uncanny from The Female Thermometer to read Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, and establish said effect as the return of the repressed. The thesis will then move on to examine the inadequacies of Freud’s essay from a literary context with E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman, and how Hoffmann’s story began to utilize non-supernatural themes to present the uncanny effect. The final chapter will end with an analysis of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a text already established as the first science fiction novel—yet also an exemplary gothic novel—to argue that though the use of scientific elements, early science fiction expanded and continued the uncanny legacy of gothic fiction.

並列關鍵字

Uncanny ； Gothic Fiction ； Science Fiction ； Frankenstein ； Sandman

參考文獻

Works Cited

Alkon, Paul K. Origins of Futuristic Fiction. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print.

---. Science Fiction before 1900: Imagination Discovers Technology. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print.

Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow: Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Print.

Brantlinger, Patrick. "The Gothic Origins of Science Fiction." NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 14.1 (1980): 30-43. Print.