| 摘要: | 本文定義狄更斯(Charles Dickens, 1812-70)的《荒涼山莊》(Bleak House, 1852-53) 是一本以倫敦爲主的地方性小說，小說中的各種主題皆起因於十九世紀中倫敦的急速都市化。本文首先探討狄更斯如何再現倫敦的都市地景。狹窄的街道、不良的公共設施、鐵路的興建、與貧民窟的髒亂，透過狄更斯的描寫，顯示出作者對無秩序的都市地景企圖給予定義與評價，然而景觀的描寫卻往往跳脫作者的掌控，猶如倫敦的「霧｣一般無法固定與無法再現。狄更斯的都市地景描寫，一方面表現出都市的可讀性與可控制性，另一方面卻也矛盾地展現都市景觀的不可讀與失控。文章第二部分接著討論這樣無法秩序化的都市景觀，使《荒涼山莊》有了恐怖小說(Gothic novel)的要素。倫敦成了陰鬱沉悶的鬼屋，如迷宮般的街道，如廢墟的貧民窟，如吸血鬼般的大法官，倫敦因而也成了犯罪的溫床。警長貝克特(Bucket)是一名偵探，也是一名都市的漫游者(flâneur)，他的出現表示出全景式與理智性地掌控都市地景，但是卻也反映出都市自然景觀的反抗造成了恐怖與罪惡的倫敦。文章第三部分即討論倫敦的地景成了偵探小說(Detective fiction)中偵探查案的舞台。全文試圖探討狄更斯對都市地景的描繪，並強調地景在此小說中的各種功能。
This paper treats a high regard for Dickens's mature use of London as the multifaceted setting in Bleak House (1852-53). The plots, characters, and themes are all related to the radical urbanization and modernization in nineteenth-century London. This paper first discusses how Dickens represents urban landscape, including narrow streets, the dysfunctional sanitation and sewerage, the building of railways, and the dirty and miserable slum. Dickens's representation attempts to pin down the chaotic city and to re-define the meaning of London. However, the urban landscape is always out of the author's control, just like the fluid and unrepresentable ”fog” in London. Thus, Dickens's description of London, on the one hand, portrays that the city is readable and controllable; on the other hand, it simultaneously reveals that the city is unreadable and incontrollable. This paper then discusses how this unrepresentable and disordered urban landscape becomes the major element of Gothic novel, such as the haunted-house-like London, labyrinth-like streets, ruin-like slum, and vampire-like lawyers. London in this way turns out to be the seedbed of crime. Inspector Bucket is a detective and also a flâneur. The appearance of this character symbolizes a panoptic and rationalized control of urban landscape, but the endless crimes imply the resistance to be dominated. From this perspective, this paper further analyzes that London provides a stage for detection and crime, so Bleak House becomes a detective novel. Overall, this paper attempts to discuss how Dickens represents London and the multiple functions of urban landscape in the Bleak House. |
