虛無的生產：《大亨小傳》中的空間意識

本論文試圖以空間理論檢驗史考特．費茲傑羅的《大亨小傳》，尤其透過昂希．列斐伏爾的巨作《空間的生產》來剖析本部作品。透過列斐伏爾該書中的概念三元組，亦即「可以被感知（the perceived）的空間實踐」、「建構（the conceived）空間的再現（representations of space）」以及「實際生活（the lived）的再現空間（representational spaces）」，本論文將探討蓋茨比在世時曾短暫產生的空間，貌似瓜果豐碩，但他所曾經達成的美國夢卻在離世後消失，蕩然無存並化為虛無。本論文第一章將介紹費茲傑羅的歷史生平與《大亨小傳》的多數學者的批評及解讀。第二章則將援引列斐伏爾的空間理論，試圖瞭解「戰略空間」（strategic space）如何把早已邊緣化的少數族群更進一步推向邊界，而此於小說中的典型代表人物即為蓋茨比。儘管蓋茨比力圖認同並歸化與自身迥異的文化，他始終無法成為列斐伏爾理論中「決定、財富與資訊的焦點」。相反地，湯姆．布坎南則掌握近似國家力量（state power）的權力，能輕鬆規範並將弱勢族群的利益，假借大眾之手將其推至邊緣。第三章將細讀《大亨小傳》中具樞紐地位的四處地點。本論文認為湯姆、黛西與蓋茨比一開始居住的處所，便已說明他們各自注定扮演的角色，也清楚闡述為何蓋茨比最終必須回歸扮演湯姆口中「來歷不明的無名人士」。而蓋茨比的死亡，也將他推向虛無，他構建的身分，也將於離世後不再運作，並喪失任何存在意義。本論文的結論為，讀者若透過極少被關注的空間理論進行閱讀《大亨小傳》，將有可能瞭解蓋茨比曾顛覆傳統空間並產生自己的替代空間。讀者也能更瞭解蓋茨比在追求實現美國夢的同時，需如何翻轉傳統的空間分化，而他又如何在各種嘗試中屢次失敗，最終幻化虛無。

關鍵字

史考特．費茲傑羅；《大亨小傳》；昂希．列斐伏爾；《空間的生產》；概念三元組；戰略空間；虛無

並列摘要

This master’s thesis examines F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through the trajectory built upon Space theorists, primarily through Henri Lefebvre’s The Production of Space. By using Lefebvre’s notion of the perceived-conceived-lived triad, this thesis argues that Gatsby has created a void, one that was once a production of seemingly fruitful space but that gives little meaning after his departure to a world he had at one time fashioned in his pursuit of the American Dream, which eventually effervesces and comes to an end of voidness. Chapter 1 gives an introduction of the historical background of Fitzgerald’s life as well as the general reading of The Great Gatsby. Chapter 2 appropriates the framework of primarily from Henri Lefebvre to understand how “strategic space” forces already minority groups exemplified by Gatsby “out toward the periphery.” Despite Gatsby’s attempt to assimilate in an entirely different culture from his own, he persistently fails to become that Lefebvre’s idea of the “locus of decision, wealth, power and information.” In stark contrast, Tom Buchanan easily assumes the role of a type of state power who regulates and marginalizes the interest of minorities, here Gatsby, through the medium of public interest. Chapter 3 examines the four locations pivotal to The Great Gatsby. My argument is that the preexisting and predestined houses in which Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby respectively resides clearly illustrates why Gatsby must be forced to return to his previous identity as “Mr Nobody from Nowhere” dubbed by Tom, and eventually turns into a void of vacuum subsequent to his death where his newly fashioned identity ceases to function or even with any existential meaning. This thesis concludes that a new understanding of The Great Gatsby can be achieved by exploring the frequently neglected role of space and its possibility to facilitate Gatsby to engender an alternative space of subversion, and how Gatsby’s challenge in his pursuit to fulfill an American Dream that allows him to overturn the conventional spatial compartmentalization in his world will eventually fail to the point of an oblivious void.