- 學位論文
再思偵探:保羅．奧斯特之《紐約三部曲》
Rethinking the Detective in Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy
摘要
本論文主要研究保羅．奧斯特(Paul Auster)在《紐約三部曲》中所呈現的嶄新偵探小說文類。在1960年代，湯瑪斯．品瓊(Thomas Pynchon)塑造了開放式的偵探小說結局，隨著後現代的解構思潮產生，保羅．奧斯特也創造出獨樹一格的幽靈偵探(spectering detective)文類。在《紐約三部曲》的偵探拙於辦案，導致案件不了了之，終致邁向自我懷疑、個人主體的崩解，這樣的呈現手法有別於傳統的偵探小說模式，帶有後設偵探小說的寫作風格。藉由小說中偵探辦案的過程，保羅．奧斯特(Paul Auster)自創的幽靈偵探(spectering detective)亦審視了紐約歷史、美國歷史，藉由呼喚美國作家華特．惠特曼(Walt Whitman)、納撒尼爾•霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne) 、埃德加．愛倫．坡(Edgar Allan Poe)等多位美國作家以及幾位紐約的歷史人物，將歷史元素注入偵探小說的創作。本篇論文的幽靈偵探(spectering detective)以賈克．德希達(Jacques Derrida)之解構概念切入，企圖重新思考偵探在後現代小說中的角色，並探討偵探與作者、讀者之間的關係，並藉由偵探的角色窺探出保羅．奧斯特(Paul Auster)對紐約的觀點、以及對紐約歷史的發想與回應。
並列摘要
This M. A. thesis seeks to examine the role of detective in Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy. Different from traditional detective, the detective in this novel presents a dull image, leading the case into a failure and finally resulting in a deconstruction of his own identity. In the postmodern detective genre, Thomas Pynchon has created a new type of deconstructed detective. Following the trend of postmodern writing, Auster creates a new genre— spectering detective, a term derived from Jacques Derrida’s concept of haunting. By invoking Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe and many other American writers in the story, Auster made the detective haunt those writers or even the historical figures like John Roebling and Jackie Robinson. Through haunting, Auster creates a dialogue with those American writers, which reveals his attitude toward New York history, or even American history. This thesis also explores how a detective has an interrelated relationship with a writer and a reader, seeking to reconstruct how they transform from each other.