亨利詹姆斯的場所之愛：《奉史記》安家在巴黎

Abstract

本論文藉由剖析詹姆斯小說《奉史記》之中年男主角路易斯史垂則，研討亨利詹姆斯的場所之愛﹙topophilia﹚。學界研究詹姆斯之作品，慣常將討論聚焦於詹姆斯本人對巴黎文化及社群之疏離感；歸諸於作者本身以浪漫觀光客角度觀看歐美文化差異等範疇。雖論點眾多，但卻忽略將詹姆斯本人早期遊歷歐洲諸國之情感空間經驗，與其虛構人物間連結做一探討，有狹隘與簡化之疑。\n\n因此，本文意旨在解析詹姆斯與史垂則之場所與其情感連結：剖析層面針對此小說背景：巴黎的室外空間，室內空間及中間過渡場所。同時揭露史垂則對人性複雜度的深度視角。第一章緒論，首先作文獻回顧，爬梳學術領域如何觀看詹姆斯的文學作品。介紹研究背景理論，包括巴舍拉的原初的家 ﹙primitive home﹚，段義孚對場所之愛的概念定義，班雅明的漫遊者﹙flâneur﹚，及特納的儀式理論文本溯源。第二章回顧檢驗詹姆斯的遊記及文獻，審視其如何將家的概念與其寰宇主義意識間作連結；並且經由探討史垂則在巴黎的空間經驗，展示詹姆斯本人的場所之愛。史垂則對巴黎之熟悉親切感來自於比較兩地:置身在美國故鄉與其在擁有萬花筒般影像之巴黎的多元文化差異而得獲。接續二章將解析在此小說中，史垂則如何在三大主要場域獲得其安家感知經驗：史垂則之室外空間漫步經驗，此小說中主要角色居住之室內空間、及包括花園、陽台、及巴黎近郊等中間過渡空間。尾章為結論，提供本研究之發現與貢獻。\n\n本研究得出結論，大都會巴黎對史垂則來說不僅是一個原初的家，並且展示巴黎為其情感空間感知及意涵重拾年輕活力之隱喻空間。史垂則於巴黎之空間乃其生命過渡時期的閾限空間﹙liminal space﹚，實際乃詹姆斯刻畫及反映史垂則延遲成熟期之自我覺察。如同史垂則在巴黎朗必列畫家之印象畫風法國田園畫中感知之內在和諧。無論其未來遊歷置身何處，藉由運用其在巴黎場域中感知的空間意象與靈感啟發，經由自身心靈覺察與感知能力，史垂則將可安家在任何地方。

This thesis will scrutinize Henry James’ topophilia and how his homely intimacy is associated with his protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether’s in The Ambassadors (1903) by examining the process of their homing in Paris. Some researches focus on the investigation of Strether’s sense of alienation from Parisian community as well as his romantic tourist vision. This thesis seeks, alternatively, to explore both the emotional bonds of James and Strether between people and place in association with the interplay between the interior, the exterior, and the intermediate places in Paris in this novel. Meanwhile, his penetrative insight into human complexities is excavated. The introductory chapter will explore the notion of “homing” by elucidating Gaston Bachelard’s notion of “primitive home,” Yi-fu Tuan’s conceptualization of topophilia, Walter Benjamin’s ideas of the flâneur and Victor Turner’s perspective of the “rites of passage.” Chapter Two will render an overall investigation of James’ travelogue and records. By investigating James’ concept of home in relation to cosmopolitanism, I will show how the notion of topophilia is manifested in James’ The Ambassadors and some of his autobiographical writings. Strether’s intimate sense of familiarity with Paris is achieved through discovering the cultural differences between America and France in the kaleidoscopic “Parisian fairyland.” The following are two chapters analyzing Strether’s perceptional experiences of homing in different spaces in Paris in The Ambassadors: the exterior where Strether strolled, the dwellings of the major characters in this novel, and the intermediate spaces including garden and balcony scenes, and the suburbs of Paris. Chapter Three will probe Strether’s growing sense of intimacy with Paris by investigating his walking experiences through the cityscape. Chapter Four will examine the interior spaces of these major characters, focusing especially on Madame Marie de Vionnet’s luxurious dwelling with historical objects, and Miss Maria Gostrey’s rooms filled with many personal collections. I will look at the intermediate spaces including the balcony of the Pococks’ hotel overlooking the Rue de Rivoli, the Italian sculptor’s exotic garden in Paris, and the rural site in the suburb of Paris where Strether makes excursions and obtains his “belated vision” after detecting the lies of Marie and Chad. The final chapter concludes that the metropolitan Paris is not only a metaphoric space for Strether’s “primitive home” but also a “rite of passage” where Strether experiences a marginal/ “liminal” status. Strether’s spatial experiences in the Parisian “fairyland” are actually his self-discovery of his postponed maturity. Like the harmony of what Strether finds in the French painter Lambinet’s painting of the picturesque landscape, wherever he goes in the future, by an exertion of the mind, he may home “elsewhere” by recalling these spatial images in Paris.