「待填補的空間」：《使女的故事》中的（反）烏托邦空間

Abstract

瑪格麗特‧愛特伍的小說《使女的故事》常被學者視為一部顛覆反烏托邦文學敘事的作品。不同於傳統的男性視角，《使女的故事》以女性的角度出發，讓敘事成為她在被高壓控制之下重新找到自我中心的方式。為了和高度壓迫的社會抗衡，敘事者將個人記憶和歷史寄於她周遭的空間，空間敘事成為攸關生存的重要策略。本文從空間敘事出發，探討《使女的故事》如何使敘事中的空間成為女主角的生存策略。首先，本文檢視文本中的空間敘事，闡述此小說如何看待、使用，並將空間轉變為對敘事者具有意義的地方，進而以記憶和經驗描繪女主角身處的反烏托邦社會，並在其中找到能夠寄予希望的空間。本文同時也將分析小說所處的歷史框架及其對文本的影響。從歷史的角度，本文望能闡述《使女的故事》如何在原歷史背景的框架下，產生更多流動和改變的可能。

One of her most famous works, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has been praised as presenting a dystopian world from a subversive perspective. Unlike the male perspective of traditional dystopian novels, the female narrator of The Handmaid’s Tale uses story-telling to orient herself to a world turned upside down. To negotiate with the oppressive environment she is placed in, private histories associated with space around her become essential to her survival. This thesis argues that the use of space in The Handmaid’s Tale is central to the strategy of survival and the possibility of escape. First, this thesis will examine the use of space deployed in the novel. By conducting a close reading of The Handmaid’s Tale, this thesis examines the ways in which space is perceived, appropriated, and becomes meaningful place through the voice of the narrator. This thesis, then, will examine how space and place in The Handmaid’s Tale are used to build up the dystopian world and how, by filling it up with memories and experience, the protagonist finds utopian space in the cracks of the dystopian world. Secondly, the thesis will focus on how the larger context of the novel shows its influence in the text. By historicizing the novel, this thesis shows the ways in which the novel resonates beyond its original setting through the fluidity in its use of space and through reinventions in adaptations.