柯律芝及其古水手: 自傳書寫與形象塑造

Abstract

本論文旨在檢視柯律芝在三項自傳性作品中的形象塑造：〈古水手之歌〉、 《筆記》、《文學生涯》。〈古水手之歌〉初寫成之際並非自傳性作品，而是柯律芝挪用旅行書寫體例，試圖表現其詩學的作品。直至柯律芝旅行至德國、馬爾他、義大利，他才首次把自己與古水手的形象疊合。柯律芝的兩次歐陸旅行如同一場美學教育，幫助他形塑知識份子的身分。《筆記》記錄了柯律芝旅行期間的美學經驗，與成形中的美學理念，為他往後的文學批評奠下基礎。古水手可視為柯律芝心中知識份子的現成象徵，《筆記》、《文學生涯》也常出現古水手的意象。尤其是《文學生涯》，柯律芝化身的敘述者，以講述個人文學生涯的方式，擄獲及教導讀者，呈現了一種知識份子的特殊形象，他的美學理念也為他吸引了一批酷似「婚禮賓客」的追隨者。柯律芝旅行回國後，在高門一地安定下來，以文學批評及即興演說聞名，他更善用古水手象徵塑造自己的公眾形象，為「高門智者」的封號再添傳奇。

This thesis seeks to examine how Coleridge fashions his public persona as the Ancient Mariner in autobiographical writings: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Notebooks, and Biographia Literaria. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is firstly modeled after the contemporary travel writings, where Coleridge appropriates its generic conventions so as to assert his own poetics. This poem does not become autobiographical until Coleridge’s Continental travels to Germany and Malta and Italy, where he as a traveler comes to identify with his Mariner. The Continental travels as his aesthetic education help fashion Coleridge’s intellectual identity as “clerisy”— the intelligentsia responsible for the cultivation of the nation. Recording his aesthetic experiences and formulating aesthetic theories in his Notebooks during the travels, Coleridge aspires to cultivate the British society as a literary critic. The Mariner as a ready symbol for the ideal of clerisy resonates throughout Notebooks and Biographia Literaria. The Biographia showcases “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Coleridge constructs and stages a persona who tells his life story with a purpose to enthrall and enlighten his reader-audience. The educational agenda centered in Coleridge’s aesthetics wins him the followers who are not unlike the Wedding Guest. Finally settling down in Highgate as a literary critic and improvising lecturer, Coleridge consciously aligns his public persona with the Ancient Mariner, creating the legend of the “Sage of Highgate.”