從維多利亞新聞文化閱讀狄更斯《我們共同的朋友》

Abstract

本文試圖藉由十九世紀英國新聞閱讀文化探討狄更斯《我們共同的朋友》這本連載小說中情節之間的連結。《我們共同的朋友》的多重故事線被連載的過程多次中斷，使得整體故事顯得更為破碎。新聞閱讀文化可以提供連載寫作技巧之外的連結，串接部分的情節、將不同的故事線連接起來。首先，藉由連載小說的歷史背景以及狄更斯連載寫作的習慣突顯這本小說連載的不同與複雜性。其次，小說中有許多借用新聞寫作的片段。這些類似新聞寫作的敘述方式可以幫助讀者理解小說中部分因章回連載而中斷的情節。最後，小說中部分情節的聯繫是藉由角色閱讀新聞之後資訊的傳遞與交換所產生。綜觀以上，透過對維多利亞時期這樣一個以新聞媒體為普羅大眾最常接觸的文體的瞭解，《我們共同的朋友》是一本連載小說與新聞閱讀文化之間互動的產品。

This thesis aims to explore the possibilities of links created by Victorian newspaper culture in Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend. Originally motivated by the segmented and dispersed plotlines in this serialized multiple plot novel, this research paper sought to find out how connections maybe formed in a literary reading culture that was mainly dominated by newspaper reading. These connections are not contradictory to those otherwise formed, for example those formed by serial techniques, nor do they exclude the others, they are an additional possibility. The form of the serial novel breaks the plotlines down, and some of the breaks are especially pronounced in OMF. The first part of this research project will begin with an overview of the historical background for the serial publication of OMF to show the complexity of the links among plotlines and offer newspaper culture as a possible additional interpretation. The second part will focus on the similarities of form and style OMF shares with newspapers. The similarities were able to support the readers in conceiving some parts of OMF connected even though its plotlines do not have a unified focus or an inclusive design. The third part will continue the previous chapter and explore the transmission of information that centers the newspaper in the novel. I argue that the reading, reception, and response to newspaper form a web of information that form some of the links in OMF. My study seeks to demonstrate that as a serial novel situated in a reading culture that was largely dominated by newspaper, OMF is an interaction between serialization and newspaper culture that provides a ground for Dickens to explore an additional way of binding the novel and its plotlines together.