Spatial Symbiosis and Spatial Oscillation in Jeanette Winterson`s The Passion

Abstract

本篇論文企圖運用三種不同之理論架構分別來詮釋詹涅特•溫特森（Jeanette Winterson）的第二本小說《激情》（The Passion）。小說中的兩位敘述者，亨利（Henri）與薇菈妮爾（Villanelle）各自在不同的城市□（Paris and Venice）遭受當權者的操縱與剝削，因此下定決心脫離宰制的空間，進而在逃亡的過程中彼此相識。不過由於諸多的因素，這對無緣的戀人終究以悲劇收場，分別在不同的空間□尋找自我生存的意義。論文第二章以克麗絲蒂娃（Julia Kristeva）的理論為基礎，探討小說人物的主體性如何受到兩種空間（the semiotic and the symbolic）的相互拉扯，而呈現出不穩定的狀態。第三章運用布希亞（Jean Baudrillard）所提出的擬像（simulation）與內爆（implosion）等觀念，分析小說人物如何在真實界與擬像界中來回擺盪。第四章從列菲弗爾（Henri Lefebvre）的空間概念為出發點，透過三種空間（spatial practice, representations of space, and representational spaces）的交互辯證關係，一方面挑戰傳統二分法的制式化對立，一方面藉由檢視小說人物與城市空間的互動，賦予空間議題某種顛覆傳統的可能性。最後在論文的結論部分，首先歸納出三位理論家一致的共通性—空間共生與空間擺盪，並以此做為貫穿理論架構與小說文本的中心概念，希冀將小說《激情》做更全面的詮釋與研究。

This thesis aims to interpret Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion through three different theoretical frameworks, including Julia Kristeva’s feminism, Jean Baudrillard’s postmodernism, and Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory. Interwoven with two narrators, The Passion describes the ill-starred lovers, Henri and Villanelle, both of whom undergo a series of manipulations and exploitations from those-in-power in Paris and Venice respectively, later determine to escape, and encounter each other in Russia unexpectedly. On account of the radical differences in personality and preference, this romantic story of Henri and Villanelle ends up with the permanent separation in two diverse spaces where both protagonists eventually feel the sense of belonging. Accordingly, this thesis pays much attention to the function of space in the novel, which is conducive to the dissection of Winterson’s characters and which becomes a crucial perspective penetrating these three theorists’ assertions. In Chapter Two, The Passion is first scrutinized in terms of Kristeva’s theory, particularly from the viewpoint of the semiotic and symbolic spaces, between which the subjectivity of the characters ineluctably oscillates. Chapter Three applies the operation of simulation and implosion within Baudrillard’s spectrum as the groundwork to elaborate The Passion, in which the characters again are entrapped in the oscillation of the real and simulated spaces. In Chapter Four, the focus is laid on the elucidation of how Lefebvre’s spatial trialectics, namely, spatial practice, representations of space, and representational spaces, interact with each other in the world of the novel. This dialectical relation of oscillation between the spatial triad not only challenges the oppositional rigidity of the traditional dichotomy but implies a possibility of subversion against the dominant space as well. Finally in the last chapter, I attempt to deduce the interrelation from three theorists in the scope of the novel, concluding my thesis with the concept—spatial symbiosis and spatial oscillation—as the major one probing into these four littérateurs of different fields.