袁哲生小說研究

Abstract

袁哲生（1966-2004）小說在臺灣文學史上活躍的時間雖短，其風格技巧與美學理念已有一定程度之確立，其作品就藝術創作上亦展現出色的水準與深度。本文透過文本細讀與系統整理，以期對袁哲生小說重要的特色與風格面貌提出較深入且具新意的分析觀點。例如：（一）袁哲生筆下人物類型所呈顯的、對於生命（包含存在、愛、宗教與尊嚴）的哲思；（二）分析其小說具代表性的幾個敘事結構。如：富象徵意涵的意象經營是構成袁哲生小說最基本的要素，而意象的換喻、語句的重覆、短篇的串聯形式……等等結構，相互作用並彰顯其文本的內部層次與中心主題；（三）袁哲生小說的語言特質，展現了「小說可以是詩」的美學觀。除了視覺意象之經營，尤其在聲音的描寫上：1. 發揮詩一般的節奏韻律。2. 開拓了「聽覺的視覺」，即穿透性視角的小說空間。3. 袁哲生小說語言力道之展現，從「鳥鳴山更幽」的襯托技巧為本，透過間接、留白的敘事技巧，讓文字的多義與象徵運用得以發酵，進而將小說累積之情節性與衝突，在精短、錯愕的一瞬造成轉折──例如《猴子》的前半段結尾：「下雨了」三個字，其文字越清遠簡練，聚焦的情感越集中──該「點睛」之力道，是為集袁哲生小說敘事技巧之大成的美學風格；（四）透過〈靜止在樹上的羊〉所揭示：小說世界從凝滯的畫面，至產生重量、生機，最後萌生靈魂的創作機制，以及對生命如「溜滑梯結構」一般、與天空相行漸遠的感覺結構，共同回顧並檢視袁哲生小說創作之精神中心、動力，與本質──即對於生命必然流逝、卻也感傷、不捨的瞬間，捕捉以老相片般靜止卻飽滿的畫面，以文字、以小說的形式，深情地安置。

In the history of Taiwan literature, although the time Yuan, Zhesheng (1966-2004) published his novels was short, his style, technique, and aesthetics in writing have all attained a certain integrity, and the artistic level of his creativity was both remarkable and deep. Through a systematizing analysis followed by a close reading of his works, my thesis would like to propose a new contribution that further pinpoints the important characteristics and style that make his novels long-lasting. My thesis basically proceeds in three main steps: first, I sort out the life philosophy (including existence, love, religion, and dignity) that was expressed through the personae in Yuan's writing. Second, I tackle the following representative structures of narration in Yuan's writing: metonymy of images, repetition of sentences, and short series connections, to show that packing images rich in implication is a purposeful characteristic of his writing. By looking into the above structures of narration, I go on to show how Yuan thereby strengthened the layering of his texts and the themes in them. Third, I emphasize that the language characteristic of Yuan's novels shows that ‘the novel can be poetry’. With this statement as a unique aesthetic point-of-view in his writing, in addition to managing visual images, I further discuss his unusual capture of sound in words. For this matter, I propose that, firstly, he played with poetic rhythm. Secondly, he explored ‘the vision in hearing’ which was the so-called ‘penetrating visual angle in the space of the novel’. Thirdly, he revealed the strength of writing through indirect narration and leaving blanks (as in mentioning a bird's sound for describing the tranquility of a mountain) in order to symbolically turn the meaning of words into multiple forms. Fourthly, he restored flows of meaning in the photo-like still images, the sad but unwilling moment of realizing the necessary loss of life, and anchored them, with great compassion, in words, in novels. My discussion shows readers that Yuan used the above skills to accumulate plots and conflicts for attaining the moment of a sudden turning point that was literally precise, short, but surprising, and yet corresponded to the ambiguity of meaning. He also grew from within the still image, in the world of his ambiguity, the weight, the life, and the soul of his creative technique. Through such textual analysis, we are more ready to read deeply into the simplicity of his work, as in the ending of the first half of the “Monkey,” Yuan used as few words as “it started to rain” to show that the more remote and simple the words appear to be, the more focused the emotion that can be evoked. We can also learn fruitfully from reading into “The Goats that are Still in the Tree” the ‘sliding structure’ of life, i.e. the feeling of sliding away from heaven as life inhumanly unfolds. I therefore proclaim that it is the combination of the above writing skills that forms Yuan's strength of words, the beauty of which can be briefly put as ‘ending a drawing of a dragon by a touch of its eyes.’ And with all the reflection and scrutiny in reading, I share with readers the core spirit, the energy, as well as the disposition that I found in Yuan's words.