The Broken Swan: The Projection of the Fantastic in the Fairy Tale of Angela Carter`s The Magic Toyshop

Abstract

當代童話故事《魔幻玩具舖》再現個體於成長過程中父權與社會機制所壓抑與消音，尤其強調於成長過程中的伊底帕斯情節期。當代童話作者呈現幻滅與殘缺的社會寫實，以提供讀者真實世界的不全以及社會的異化，藉此使讀者不安；透過詭異(the uncanny)的閱讀經驗，讀者認知於自己潛意識中的壓抑，以及社會機制的缺陷。在童話的結構中最重要的為奇幻之要素，奇幻重視顯露社會中的異化與顛覆理性的成規，其建築在現實即為取得讀者之信任，然而推展至非真的境地以混淆讀者對於現實的概念；透過傾覆讀者的認知，奇幻創造出在現實規則中的間隙(breach)以及破壞權威的法則；奇幻以及童話故事的努力皆於尋求到一個更美好的家庭遠景。\n 第一章介紹童話的文類架構以及與奇幻的緊密關聯。第二章著重於童話理論以及其架構呈現的欲望與空缺(lack)，讀者因認知到自我的伊底帕斯經驗與社會的異化而感到不安；奇幻要素則質問社會規則以及傾覆讀者對於社會秩序的概念。第三章為《魔幻玩具舖》的童話理論分析，以詭異的效果干擾讀者。第四章表明奇幻在《魔幻玩具舖》中的顛覆力量，模糊真與非真的界線以及在社會法規中創造出間隙開啟了被壓抑與壓迫發聲的可能性。最後一章以童話與奇幻要素顛覆父權社會機制作為總結。

The modern fairy tale, The Magic Toyshop, copes with the issue of what is repressed and muffled under the social and patriarchal restraints through the growing process of a person, especially the oedipal stage. The modern fairy tale writer presents a disillusioned picture of reality, so as to provide the reader with the real conditions of deficiency and alienation in society and unsettle the reader. Through the reading process of the uncanny, the reader recognizes what has been repressed in his unconsciousness, and thus realizes the imperfectness of the society. In the structure of the fairy tale, the most important element is the fantastic which endeavors to reveal the reality of alienation and to subvert the rules of rationality. The fantastic is built on the real in order to gain the belief of the reader; however, it then develops to the realm of the unreal in order to blur the boundary between the real and the unreal. By upsetting the reader’s conception, the fantastic creates a breach in everyday reality and undermines authoritarian rules. The ultimate efforts of the fairy tale and the fantastic are made for the quest for a real homecoming.\n The first chapter introduces the genre of the fairy tale and its high relevance to the fantastic. The second chapter focuses on the theory of the fairy tale and its significance in revealing what is underneath the structure, desire and lack. The reader is unsettled by recognizing his / her own oedipal experience and the alienated reality. The element of the fantastic questions the everyday rules of the social order and disturbs the reader’s perception. The third chapter is the textual analysis of the fairy tale structure and its uncanny effect on the reader as reflected in Carter’s The Magic Toyshop. The fourth chapter is the analysis of the subversive function of the fantastic in Carter’s novel. The boundary-blurring and breach-making process opens a possibility for what is repressed and oppressed. The final chapter concludes that the fairy tale and the element of the fantastic subvert the authoritative society of patriarchy.