在荒謬中找尋生命的意義－包里斯．魏庸的《帝國締造者》

一般包里斯．魏庸被歸類為存在主義者，只寫了一齣荒謬劇：《帝國締造者》。就像他的前輩尤涅斯科的《禿頭女歌唱家》一樣，荒謬劇先由一個荒謬的劇名開始：劇中既沒有人在「締造」什麼，也沒有什麼「帝國」。人物非常簡單：父親、母親、女兒、女傭，外加一個類人「怪物」；這些人物一一消失或死亡，最後舞台上人去樓空。劇情也很簡單：一幕搬一次家，三幕搬三次家，到了閣樓，無法再往上搬。空間壓擠到最後，沒有延伸的可能，時間和生命也只好結束。本論文要探討這樣一齣戲如何呈現存在主義的中心思想：人類有行動的自由，並透過其行動自我定義。本論文首先論述首演後媒體的報導，褒貶雙方的看法，以瞭解時代觀感；繼而論述荒謬的存在，分別為人類行為的荒謬、語言的荒謬、似人非人的存在；最後剖析包里斯．魏庸的存在主義：在荒謬中找尋生命的真諦。

關鍵字

存在主義；荒謬；荒謬劇；行為荒謬；語言荒謬

並列摘要

Boris Vian is usually categorized as an existentialist, who wrote only one absurd play, Empire Builders. Just like Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano, Empire Builders begins with an absurd title, since nobody is building any empire in the play. The characters of the play are very simple: the father, the mother, the daughter, the maid and the bandaged creature. One by one, these characters either disappear or die, and finally the stage is empty. The plot is also very simple: the family is moving in every one of the acts, three times in total in the three acts, until they finally reach the attic and have nowhere else to go. As there is no longer any possibility to expand the space, time and life are forced to be gone. This paper is meant to explore how such play expresses the key idea of existentialism: human beings have the freedom of action and define themselves through their actions. This paper first presents the media reports and both the positive and negatives reviews after the premiere, which would help us understand how people in Boris Vian's saw the play. Then we talk about the absurdity of being in terms of the absurdity of human beings' actions, the absurdity of language and the absurdity of the human/inhuman creature.Finally, we analyze Boris Vian's existentialism: looking for the true meaning of life in the absurd.