Untimely Dialogue with the Reader?-The Function of Forewords in the Works of Arno Schmidt

與讀者不合時宜的對話？阿諾‧史密特的序言作用

漢駿緯(Christian Hein)

《東吳外語學報》 37期 (2013/09) Pp. 113-147

摘要

阿諾‧史密特（1914－1979）的早期著作常以假想作家或翻譯者的方式撰寫序言，並藉此引領讀者進入書中。這種不合時宜的寫作方式，是比照文藝復興時期諷刺小說與巴洛克時期的文學冒險小說形式，例如：巴洛克時期文學家Johann Gottfried Schnabel（1692－1746）、Eberhard Werner Happel（1657－1690）與史密特的偶像，即美國作家James Fenimore Cooper（1789－1852）與Mark Twain（1835－1910）。本論文旨在分析阿諾‧史密特偏好用「序言」當作一種讓讀者與文學傳統相互溝通的文學技術，雖然同時期許多德國作家是依現代美國文學的風格進行寫作，但史密特卻經由上述特殊的文學技巧反對第二次大戰後之德國流行文學；本文使用Gérard Genette的文學理論分析史密特序言的各種作用。

關鍵字

序言 ； 現代文學 ； 傳統文學 ； 巴洛克文學 ； 啟蒙運動 ； 諷刺小說

並列摘要

Especially in his early works, German writer Arno Schmidt (1914-1979) engages in a free play with a fictitious author or narrator. To achieve this playful effect, Schmidt usually uses the foreword of his narrative to introduce a fictitious author who prepares the reader for the text to follow. This literary technique is not typical of 20th century literature and usually more widely used in the Reniassance humorist tradition and the adventure novels of the Baroque era. Among authors who make constant use of forewords are Johann Gottfried Schnabel (1692-1746) and Eberhard Werner Happel (1657-1690) - to name a few of contemporary writers who also happen to be literary role models of Arno Schmidt. But also in the works of the American writers James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1832) and Mark Twain (1835-1910) the reader encounters the fictitious foreword.The aim of this essay is to interpret Arno Schmidt's usage of fictitious forewords as literary technique enabling the German author to connect his own work to a literary tradition that he favors. By doing so, Schmidt furthermore opposes contemporary post-WWII German literature that more or less exclusively lives up to American modernism. The theoretical basis for this essay will be provided by Gérard Genette's writings on the various functions of forewords and epilogues.

並列關鍵字

Forewords ； modern literature ； literary tradition ； Baroque ； Enlightenment ； humorist novels

參考文獻

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Tiedemann, Rolf(Hg.)(1998).Noten zur Literatur.Frankfurt a. M.:Suhrkamp.

Adorno, Theodor W.,Tiedemann, Rolf(Hg.)(1998).Noten zur Literatur.Frankfurt a. M.:Suhrkamp.

Auster, Paul(2003).The Book of Illusions.New York:Faber & Faber.

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