罪惡的納西瑟斯:霍桑書寫中的憂鬱與自大

Abstract

本論文以佛洛伊德的〈論自戀:一篇導論〉(“On Narcissism: An Introduction”) 一文為出發點,考察霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne)早期短篇故事中書寫自戀的兩種 極端面貌:憂鬱與自大。霍桑寫作中對於人類心理的探討一直享有盛名,但是霍桑的評論家研究早期的短篇故事時皆從聖經、歷史或跨文本取徑,探討霍桑筆下角色的原型或是文本來源,少有評論者著墨於霍桑早期寫作中精神疾病的描寫與問題。借助佛洛伊德對於自戀與病態自戀的探討,本論文採取一種精神分析式的閱讀,將將霍桑的文學譬喻與聖經隱喻視為精神疾病的症狀描述,閱讀霍桑筆下的憂鬱/自大主體與客體關係的毀壞,探討霍桑如何鋪陳精神官能症的發展與刻 畫病態的自戀型態。霍桑的短篇小說描寫的是具有這精神疾病症狀的病態角色, 而刻畫精神疾病最終是為了激起讀者的同情心。

This thesis begins from Sigmund Freud’s “On Narcissism: An Introduction” to study the writing of the pathological illness and symptoms in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s early short stories: melancholia and megalomania. The theme of psychology has been prominent in Hawthorne’s fiction, but critics tend to take the biblical, historical or intertextual approach to analyze his early tales, scrutinizing the archetypes or literary sources behind Hawthorne’s creations. Very few studies have addressed the issues of psychological illnesses that Hawthorne’s early short stories present. With Freud’s insight on narcissism and narcissistic maladies/symptoms, this thesis adopts a psychoanalytic reading to see the biblical allusions and literary metaphors as the symptoms that Hawthorne diagnosed in his characters. By treating the literary devices as symptoms, this thesis examines how the characters fall ill of melancholia or manifest megalomania and how various forms of object-relations are damaged. This thesis discusses why Hawthorne insisted on writing psycho-pathological figures and how this literary writing can initiate the reader into sympathy, a concept peculiar to Hawthorne’s sentimental religion.