The role of a writer in selected metafictional novels Bc. Eva Šulcová Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the genre of metafictional novel. The aim of the diploma thesis is to identify various internal motivations for the usage of metafiction technique in literature and to describe the role of a writer. The first part summarizes the theoretical background of the genre and formulates some characteristic features of metafictional novel (emphasized vicariousness of the narrative, reflection of the creative act, personality of the writer, or the problematized relationship between reality and fiction), which were all illustrated by the analysis of André Gide's novel The Counterfeiters. The second part consists of interpretations of three metafictional novels. The interpretations aim at a complex analysis of the author and at a description of various functions of the metafiction technique as a constituent of the work's meaning. Gide uses metafiction to display the discrepancy between reality and illusion, thus uncovering hypocrisies of society and passing judgement on it. To Čapek, metafiction is a tool for applying multiperspectivity to his storyline, thus creating a metaphor of varying epistemic principles. Metafictional genre was further utilized by Řezáč in his novel Rozhraní to illustrate the polarity...

Ce travail arpente le domaine de ce qu’Albert Thibaudet nommait « la critique des artistes » pour montrer que, au cours de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, ce genre de critique a constitué un véritable laboratoire permettant de sortir des impasses auxquelles avait conduit la vision autotélique de l’œuvre proposée par la critique formaliste et par la néo-avant-garde. Dans la première partie de l’étude on s’interroge sur l’évolution de la critique formaliste, en envisageant le tournant linguistique des années 1960 comme l’aboutissement naturel d’une révolution culturelle qui a eu lieu à la fin du XIXe siècle. En menant une analyse comparée entre la France et l’Italie, on observe les deux critiques formalistes en-dehors de leur rapport de filiation, et on brosse un modèle transnational qui montre qu’elles partagent la même conception de la littérature postulée par la néo-avant-garde. La deuxième partie du travail est consacrée à l’analyse d’une tendance relevable dans la critique des écrivains à partir de l’après-guerre, où une étude purement intrinsèque de l’œuvre d’art est mise en discussion. On propose une analyse comparée de la critique littéraire de Georges Perec, Michel Tournier, Philippe Muray, Tommaso Landolfi, Pier Paolo Pasolini et Pier Vittorio Tondelli, afin de souligner que leur pratique critique ne s’est pas limitée à une déclaration personnelle de poétique, mais elle a ouvert une voie alternative à l’exaspération des positions théoriques formalistes, en anticipant ou en prônant le dépassement d’une vision autoréférentielle de l’œuvre qui a caractérisé la littérature de la fin du XXe siècle aussi bien en France qu’en Italie. / My dissertation covers the field of what Albert Thibaudet called “the critique of artists” in order to show that, throughout the second half of the twentieth century, this form of criticism has given readers a different perspective on literature in comparison to that of the formalists and the neo-avant-garde. In the first part of my study, I examine the evolution of formalist criticism in the twentieth century, considering the linguistic turn of the 1960s as the natural outcome of a cultural revolution which took place at the end of the nineteenth century. By conducting a comparative study between France and Italy, I attempt to outline a transnational model which shows that the two formalist critiques share the same understanding of the literature postulated by the neo-avant-garde. The second part of my thesis is devoted to the study of one of the main tendencies in the critique of the writers since the Second World War, a tendency that called into question a purely intrinsic study of the work of art. Here, I propose a comparative study of the literary critique of Georges Perec, Michel Tournier, Philippe Muray, Tommaso Landolfi, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Pier Vittorio Tondelli, in order to underline that their critical practice has not limited itself to a personal declaration of their poetic views, but it has truly opened up an alternative approach to formalist theoretical positions. They refused to speak of literature as a secluded world, and by doing so they anticipated one of the most important features of the literature of the end of the twentieth century, both in France and in Italy.

Ce travail a pour objectif la mise en évidence des interférences entre la presse et la littérature. en étudiant les "romans athéniens" de Grigorios Xénopoulos, publiés en feuilleton entre 1913 et 1945 dans la presse athénienne, nous examinons le champ littéraire et journalistique grec depuis la fin du XIXe siècle et jusqu’à la deuxième guerre mondiale, la description de l’espace urbain (Athènes) et la présence de l’interdiscours dans les romans. Nous traitons le corpus dans l’optique d’une littérature de presse, médiatique et largement accessible. Enfin, dans le sillage de l’analyse du discours et particulièrement de la nouvelle rhétorique, nous examinons la dimension argumentative des textes et l’image de l’auteur dans la fiction, telle qu’elle est perçue notamment à travers le réseau intertextuel. / This work aspires to the description of the connection between the press and the literature. by studying Grigorios Xenopoulos’"Athenian novels", published in serial form between 1913 and 1945 in the Athenian press, I examine the greek literary and journalistic field from the end of the 19th century until the world war II, the description of the urbain space (Athens) and the interdiscourse in the novels. the corpus is treated from the point of view of the media and the largely accessible press literature. Finally, following on from the discourse analysis and in particular from the new rhetoric, I examine the argumentative dimension of the texts and the image of the author in fiction, as it is perceived in particular through the intertextual network.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:18:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Auxiliadora de Lima Wang.pdf: 1859647 bytes, checksum: b0c9251424f2184cd5c56c7f18f27a0e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-25 / In his analysis of verbal behavior, Skinner emphasizes the importance of considering the behavior of the listener to obtain a proper understanding of the behavior of the speaker and vice versa. In this work, verbal interactions in a journalistic blog were analyzed to look for possible relations of control among the participants of the blog: from the journalist to the readers and vice versa, and among the readers themselves. Thirty-seven texts were analyzed; they were published by the journalist to his blog during three and a half days, in the period immediately after the TAM airplane accident that took place in Sao Paulo on July, 17, 2007, as well as 1673 comments on these texts. Comments were classified according to their target - whether they were addressed to the journalist or to other readers, or had no specific target. These comments were also classified into categories such as agreement, disagreement and contribution. The results suggest: 1) the existence of mutual control between the journalist and his readers and among the readers themselves; 2) strong control of the topics relating to the accident on the writing of the participants of the blog; 3) differential control by the journalist on the readers writing behavior compared to the control among readers themselves; 4) strong influence of emotional variables on the writing behavior of the participants of the blog. In this respect, however, it was concluded that, although the data allow supposing the existence of these control relations, further studies are needed to clarify these supposed control relationships. The average delay between the publication of a text and the publication of its first comment was 2 hours and 37 minutes. This delay was less than an hour in 22 out of 37 texts analyzed. These data suggest that new technologies, such as Internet and its byproducts, such as blogs, can reduce extraordinarily the interval between the verbal behavior and its effects, while at the same time the reach of the product of that behavior can be dramatically increased. Thus, these new technologies should be considered in the planning of contingencies for the teaching and the study of the verbal behavior. In addition, the blogs, by allowing the inclusion of new individuals in the process of news production, may increase the possibilities of countercontrol by the reader over the press and cause the relationship between reader and press to become less distant / Em sua análise do comportamento verbal, Skinner destaca a importância de se considerar o comportamento do ouvinte para uma adequada compreensão do comportamento do falante e vice-versa. Neste trabalho, analisaram-se interações verbais em um blog jornalístico, em busca de possíveis controles mútuos entre os participantes desse blog: do jornalista sobre os leitores e vice-versa e de leitores entre si. Foram analisados 37 textos publicados pelo jornalista no blog durante três dias e meio, em período imediatamente posterior ao acidente do avião da TAM, ocorrido dia 17 de julho de 2007, em São Paulo, bem como 1.673 comentários a esses textos. Os comentários foram classificados quanto à direção se foram dirigidos ao jornalista, a outros leitores ou se não tiveram direção específica e foram classificados em categorias como concordância, discordância, contribuição, entre outras. Os resultados sugerem: 1) a existência de controle mútuo entre jornalista e leitores e leitores entre si; 2) forte controle de assuntos relativos ao acidente sobre a escrita dos participantes do blog; 3) existência de controle diferencial do jornalista sobre os leitores em comparação com o controle entre leitores; 4) forte influência de variáveis emocionais sobre a escrita dos participantes do blog. Concluiu-se, porém, a esse respeito que, embora os dados permitam supor a existência dessas relações de controle, outros estudos são necessários para esclarecer essas relações. O atraso médio entre a publicação de um texto e a publicação do 1º comentário a esse texto foi de 2 horas e 37 minutos, sendo que em 22 textos o atraso foi menor que uma hora. Esse dado mostra que novas tecnologias como a Internet e seus subprodutos, como os blogs, podem reduzir sobremaneira o atraso do efeito do comportamento verbal, ao mesmo tempo em que podem aumentar extraordinariamente a abrangência do produto desse comportamento. Assim, devem ser consideradas no planejamento de contingências de ensino e de estudo do comportamento verbal. Além disso, os blogs, ao permitir a inclusão de novos personagens no processo de produção de notícia, poderão aumentar as possibilidades de contracontrole do leitor sobre a imprensa e tornar a relação imprensa-leitor mais eqüidistante

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:29:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FLAVIO PEREIRA CAMARGO.pdf: 1480039 bytes, checksum: 36569b5479da5d28b954010a35fed89b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-24 / In our research, we propose initially to rescue some of the current trends of contemporary Brazilian prose fiction in order to introduce the reader to some of its main lines of force, especially a metafictional narrative, produced in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. To accomplish this bibliographical study, we chose to divide it into two parts. In the first part, entitled A narrativa brasileira contemporânea, comprising two chapters, we have made some considerations about the concept of contemporary literature, as we did a rescue of the critical reception of Brazilian literature produced in recent decades, followed by an extensive discussion on the issues constituent of metafictional narrative. In the second part, titled A encenação do fazer literário na prosa de ficção brasileira contemporânea, we propose to effectively analyze narrative and discursive strategies employed by Sérgio Sant'Anna, Antonio Fernando Borges and Rubem Fonseca in the preparation of his metafictional novels, respectively: Um crime delicado (1997), Braz, Quincas & Cia (2002), e Diário de um fescenino (2003), dedicating to each of these works a specific chapter in which we seek to highlight the discursive and narrative strategies employed by the authors in the construction process and elaboration of his novels, in order to explain the different manifestations of the contemporary metafictional narrative. / Em nossa pesquisa, nos propomos, inicialmente, a resgatar algumas das tendências da prosa de ficção brasileira contemporânea com o objetivo de apresentar ao leitor algumas de suas principais linhas de força, com destaque para a narrativa metaficcional, produzida no final do século XX e início do século XXI. Para realizar esse estudo de cunho bibliográfico, optamos por dividi-lo em duas partes. Na primeira parte, intitulada A narrativa brasileira contemporânea, composta por dois capítulos, tecemos algumas considerações acerca do conceito de contemporâneo em literatura, assim como faremos um resgate da recepção crítica da literatura brasileira produzida nas últimas décadas, seguido de uma ampla discussão sobre os aspectos constitutivos da narrativa metaficcional. Na segunda parte, intitulada A encenação do fazer literário na prosa de ficção brasileira contemporânea, nos propomos a analisar efetivamente as estratégias narrativas e discursivas empregadas por Sérgio Sant Anna, Antonio Fernando Borges e Rubem Fonseca na elaboração de seus romances metaficcionais, respectivamente: Um crime delicado (1997), Braz, Quincas & Cia (2002), e Diário de um fescenino (2003), dedicando a cada uma dessas obras um capítulo específico nos quais procuramos evidenciar as estratégias narrativas e discursivas empregadas pelos autores no processo de construção e de elaboração de seus romances, de modo a explicitar as distintas manifestações da narrativa metaficcional na contemporaneidade.

Cette thèse a pour but principal de renouveler l’étude de la question du rapport entre l’esthétique et l’idéologique dans l’oeuvre de Flannery O’Connor. Contrairement aux études antérieures menées sur cette question, elle sera abordée ici dans le cadre d’une théorie du discours littéraire, c’est-à-dire d’une théorie qui prend en compte les dimensions à la fois performatives et réflexives propres aux textes littéraires. Ce postulat théorique a des conséquences importantes pour l’étude du rapport entre les textes littéraires et les contextes sociaux, politiques, historiques et littéraires de leur mise en circulation et de leur réception. Il implique, notamment, que les ouvrages littéraires inscrivent et négocient dans leur texture même les conditions de leur mise en circulation et de leur réception, et ainsi, que la question de leur contexte doit être abordée en premier par l’étude de cette inscription et de cette négociation textuelles. Pour autant qu’elle tient pleinement compte de la logique médiate de cette inscription et de cette négociation—et notamment des effets médiateurs des figures du lecteur et de l’auteur, ainsi que du genre et du champ littéraire—l’approche pragmatique adoptée dans cette thèse permet non seulement de mener à bien cette étude, mais également de montrer sous un nouveau jour la complexité et la singularité de la signature littéraire de Flannery O’Connor. / The principal aim of this dissertation is to provide a fresh approach to the vexed question of the relationship between the aesthetic and the ideological in the work of Flannery O’Connor. Unlike existing studies of this question in the critical literature, the approach adopted in this dissertation is based on the premise that it can best be treated in the context of a theory of literary discourse, one, in particular, that takes full consideration of the reflexive and performative dimensions of literary works. This theoretical assumption has considerable consequences for the study of the relationship between literary texts and the social, political, historical and literary contexts of their reception and circulation. In particular, it suggests that literary texts inscribe and negotiate the social and historical conditions of their circulation and reception, and that the question of their context should be approached first and foremost through the study of this textual inscription and negotiation. Insofar as it takes full consideration of the mediatory logic that such textual negotiation entails—in particular the mediating presence and effect of the figures of the reader and the author, the genre of the work, and the literary field—literary pragmatics will be seen to provide an approach which not only enables this study, but also reveals in a new light both the complexity and the singularity of Flannery O’Connor’s literary signature.

This project sets forth a Mexican American cultural studies treatment of a US Southwestern legend known as the Lady in Blue (La monja azul). The legend is derived from17th-century religious memoriales (accounts) that narrate the miraculous apparition of a living cloistered Spanish nun, Sor María de Agreda, to the Jumano tribe of western New Mexico between the years 1620-1630. However, the Lady in Blue's conversion of the Jumanos was only the first of many recurring appearances she would make in the Americas and Europe over the next three hundred and seventy years. In the American Southwest, northern Mexico and Spain, stories about the apparating nun resurface and are reshaped in response to the demands of their contexts. Her narrative is transatlantic both in terms of what it recounts, and in terms of where it is recounted. She is not only represented on both sides of the ocean, but her portrayal almost always has to do with her being on both side of the ocean. The Lady in Blue narrative brings together dialogues on conquest, both secular and religious, dialogues on the significance of the female body and the feminine written word, and dialogues on the negotiation of space, proximity and identity. Extant research on Lady in Blue focuses on the components of her story as discrete entities, inadvertently divorcing related histories and legends from one another. 20th-century historians have read the account as a medieval holdover in Franciscan mission writing; folklorists as isolated Indo-Hispano accounts; and literary critics as individual anecdotes in twentieth-century literature. In contrast, this dissertation focuses on is the continuity of the narrative-- the way a series of historical figures and documents capture the Lady in Blue as she moves from New Mexico, to Spain, and back to the Franciscan missions of the Southwest, where she is viewed as a proto- or co-missionary. From the missions, the traditions, legends, and folklore about her grew and were contended, resulting in the contemporary dramatic works, novels, short stories and poems about the Lady in Blue. / text

This research explores the identity reconstruction of graduate students in additional language (AL) contexts. It addresses not only the issue of language proficiency in self-representation, but also more complicated factors that influence self-positioning and perceived social positioning in an additional culture, as well as ways of establishing the self in academic writing. The research is grounded in language learning theories in second language education and identity theories in linguistics, sociology, and cultural studies. Eleven graduate students participated in the study, among whom five were international students at a Chinese university and six were Chinese students at a Canadian university. Data were drawn from a questionnaire, writing samples, interviews, and email correspondence. Commonalities and divergences were found between groups and within groups. I developed a framework of writer identity for AL graduate students prior to the study and modified it in the discussion. Based on the data, I elaborated on the connections of personal identity and writer identity, and conceptualized for AL speakers a mediated space incorporating home culture and host culture but going beyond the overlap of the two, as well as a mediated self that is achieved through negotiation with the available options in their respective social context. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-24 23:24:36.208

Souvent laissée pour contre par les théoriciens, longtemps associée à la littérature populaire, la littérature fantastique a su depuis se tailler une place parmi les grands genres de la littérature. Depuis le milieu du XXe siècle, les chercheurs et le public découvrent ou redécouvrent un genre qui a toujours fait parti du paysage littéraire. Une œuvre majeure contribuera à la redécouverte scientifique du genre : Écrite en 1970 l’œuvre de Tzvetan Todorov Introduction à la littérature fantastique donne tant au néophyte qu’au chercheur un ouvrage qui trouve encore des échos aujourd’hui. Sa définition du fantastique, son approche du rôle du narrateur et du lecteur sont une référence, un point de départ et surtout un incontournable pour ceux et celles qui désirent comprendre et apprendre le fantastique. Dans ce mémoire, nous nous concentrerons particulièrement sur le rôle et la problématique du narrateur dans l’œuvre de deux représentants majeurs de la littérature fantastique de langue allemande du début du XXe siècle : Leo Perutz (1882-1957) et Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976). Le narrateur semble jouer un rôle prédominant dans la littérature fantastique. En effet, par son discours souvent présenté au « je », il semble créer une dynamique très particulière : il manipule son propre discours, il agit sur le lecteur en étant narrateur et personnage dans le récit, il crée une tension entre les différentes couches narratives par son état instable. Bref, il semble contribuer à l’apparition du fantastique dans le texte et également provoquer une certaine hésitation chez le lecteur. Le texte joue également un rôle : Leo Perutz produit un modèle de texte qui semble marquer aussi son collègue Alexander Lernet-Holenia. La structure presque mathématique des textes de Perutz rappelle que le fantastique peut jouer même à l’intérieur de paramètres rigides avec l’ordre et le chaos, les frontières entre le réel et le rêve. Nous étudierons des œuvres de Leo Perutz et d’Alexander Lernet-Holenia qui ont été publiées entre 1915 et 1937. Les théories qui serviront à appuyer mon travail sont tirées entre autre des études de Tzvetan Todorov et Uwe Durst sur la littérature fantastique et de Gérard Genette sur le narrateur. / Often neglected by theorists and long associated with popular literature, fantastic literature is increasingly considered as an important literary genre. Since the beginning of the 20th century, researchers and the public have discovered or rediscovered this form of literature which is omnipresent in the literary landscape. A major piece of work that led to the scientific rediscovery of the genre is Tzvetan Todorov’s Introduction à la littérature fantastique. Written in 1970, this piece still offers a present-day echo to the scientist as much as the neophyte. Its definition of fantastic and its approach to the reader’s role are a reference, a great starting point for scientific study and a must for anyone desiring to explore fantastic literature. In this thesis, we will mainly focus on the role and problematic of the narrative writer throughout the work of two major representatives Austrian authors of the early 20th century fantastic literature: Leo Perutz (1882-1957) and Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976). The narrative writer seems to be playing a key role in fantastic literature: By addressing the reader at the first person, the author creates a particular dynamics. He influences the reader by being the narrator at the same time as a character in the story. He also creates a tension throughout the different narrative layers with his fragile state. The writer contributes to the outbreak of fantastic within the text and causes a reader’s hesitation. Leo Perutz produces a text model that also marks his colleague Alexander Lernet-Holenia. The almost mathematical structure of Perutz’s writings reminds that fantastic literature can play with order and chaos as well as with the frontier between dream and reality. We will study pieces by Leo Perutz and Alexander Lernet-Holenia published between 1915 and 1937. The secondary literature sources that will serve to support my work are that of Tzvetan Todorov and Uwe Durst on fantastic literature and Gérard Genette on the narrator. / Sehr oft von den Theoretikern außer Acht gelassen und lange mit der Trivialliteratur verbunden, hat die phantastische Literatur heute ihren Platz innerhalb der großen literarischen Genres gefunden. Seit den fünfziger Jahre haben Forscher und Leser diese literarische Gattung entdeckt oder wiederentdeckt, die immer zur literarischen Landschaft gehört hat. Ein wichtiges Werk trägt zur wissenschaftlichen Wiederentdeckung des Genres bei: Die 1970 von Tzvetan Todorov veröffentlichte Introduction à la littérature fantastique bietet sowohl dem Anfänger als auch dem Forscher eine bis heute gültige Einführung. Seine Definition der literarischen Phantastik, der Rolle des Erzählers und des Lesers sind eine Referenz, ein Ausgangspunkt und ein Muss für diejenigen, die die phantastische Literatur verstehen oder mehr über diese lernen wollen. In dieser Diplomarbeit konzentrieren wir uns auf die Rolle und die Problematik des Erzählers in den Prosawerken von zwei wesentlichen Vertreter der deutschen phantastischen Literatur des Anfangs des 20. Jahrhunderts: Leo Perutz (1882-1957) und Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976). Der Erzähler scheint eine bedeutende Rolle in der phantastischen Literatur zu spielen. Der Erzähler erzeugt mit einem Ich-Diskurs eine spezielle Dynamik: Er manipuliert seinen eigenen Diskurs, weil er gleichzeitig Erzähler und Figur in der Handlung ist, er beeinflusst den Leser, sein instabiler Zustand bewirkt eine Spannung zwischen den verschiedenen narrativen Ebenen des Textes. Der Erzähler trägt also zur Entstehung des Phantastischen im Text bei und hinterlässt beim Leser Unschlüssigkeit. Der Text spielt ebenfalls eine Rolle: Dazu produziert Leo Perutz ein Textmodell, das auch Einfluss auf die schriftstellerische Arbeit von Alexander Lernet-Holenia hat. Die fast mathematische Struktur der „perutzschen“ Texte ermöglicht es dem phantastischen Text, innerhalb eines strengen Rahmens mit der Ordnung und dem Chaos und mit den Grenzen zwischen dem Realen und dem Traum zu spielen. Wir behandeln Prosawerke von Leo Perutz und Alexander Lernet-Holenia, die zwischen 1915 und 1937 veröffentlicht worden sind. Um unsere Argumentation zu stützen, wird Sekundärliteratur unter anderem von Tzvetan Todorov und Uwe Durst über die phantastische Literatur und von Gérard Genette über den Erzähler verwendet.

保羅•奧斯特的〈紐約三部曲〉被歸類為「反偵探小說」（anti-detective novel）。在這三個故事裡，因緣際會背負了偵探角色的主角們，試圖還原事件的真相，卻個個受挫，甚至迷失在糾纏的線索與沈重的身份認同的遊戲中。他們像是一腳踏進了令人暈眩的泥沼，非但沒法用理智脫困，還愈陷愈深，隨著迷宮裡的音樂瘋狂起舞。 鈴鈴鈴不時搖著鈴鼓迷惑他們的聲響來自一串一串的文字：當他們想藉語言探求「真實」時，才發現無論語言或是理智都從來不是靜止與透明的。此外，與偵探行為息息相關的「命名」（naming）問題，也是〈紐約三部曲〉中的一個焦點。主角們的名字彷彿細軟的藤蔓般糾結在一塊，命名的議題以有趣的方式被呈現在這部小說中。本篇論文還要探討這部小說如何處理讀者與作者的辯證關係，因為讀者一走進這本小說便參與了作者精心設計的巨大遊戲。 本篇論文將研討〈紐約三部曲〉反映的三個問題：再現的問題、命名的侷限性，以及讀者與作者耐人尋味的關係。再現的問題會放到德希達(Jacques Derrida)提出的「延異」（differance）觀念下解釋—事物的意義不可能立即被揭露，而是永遠處在一種「延異」的狀況下。小說中主角們對唯一真實的追尋因而不可能被應許，而是遭遇一而再、再而三的延遲。另一方面，〈紐約三部曲〉對命名的功能性有所保留。本論文將疊合本小說中對命名的質疑與波赫士短篇小說裡對命名的不信任，說明奧斯特對命名的解構。〈紐約三部曲〉對命名抱持矛盾的態度：命名既幫助人們架構他們的世界，卻又滑溜溜的歪曲了人們的自我認識，讓他們被自身的自主性的假象蒙蔽。此外，讀者和作者究竟是不是維繫著一種同盟關係呢？本論文試圖闡釋存在〈紐約三部曲〉中，他們之間相互依存、卻又競逐對文意的解釋權的關係。只不過，躲在文字的簾幕後偷看著的黑影，始終是作者的吧？！ 〈紐約三部曲〉訴說的是一個追尋的故事。這個歷程沒有終結、沒有絕對的答案，只有故事拖長了腳步的身影。這個反偵探故事否定了許多關於理智的邏輯，但是它為書寫開闢了另一種可能：書寫與閱讀可以是無限延長的生命肌理。文字從不直接給予人們他們孜孜尋找的解答，他們只告訴你你將在文字中漂流的命運。 / Labelled as an anti-detective novel, The New York Trilogy defies the traditional detective process and instead renders the experience for man to distill and to locate meaning as an agonizing one. The protagonists in The Trilogy undertake the roles of the detective, hoping to reveal a sole truth behind the entangled situation. Yet they are not only frustrated in disclosing meaning, but thrown into extreme bafflement. Their identities fall apart, wriggling in the maze built by spiral words, crossed names and the ongoing efforts to define the relations. The protagonists find everything they used to hold as truth shudder. Language no longer stands for a limpid means to represent the real but rather shakes their beliefs. When they try to name and to draw their realm of autonomy over the flowing phenomena, they find naming a problematic strategy to define the world. Furthermore, as detective-readers who attempt to decode the text, the protagonists are desperate to comprehend their relations with the “writer” of their books, as the reader does in reading The Trilogy. This thesis attempts to probe into three prominent issues raised in The New York Trilogy: dubious representation, problematic naming strategy, and the peculiar bond between the reader and the writer. The doubtful representation in the novel will be examined under what Derrida suggests in “Differance”: Meaning can never be fully present, but remains in a state of differance. The protagonists in the three stories cannot disclose an overriding truth, but float in such a wave of doubts, uncertainties, and changing phenomena of the world. Also, the problematic strategy of naming will be compared with Borges’suspicion towards naming. Under both cases, naming serves as an extreme yet slippery means for man to draw his territory. In addition, the relation between the reader and the writer in the novel is investigated. The detecting process in the novel embodies the pursuit of the reader out of the text. Thus reading and writing are delineated as an everlasting journey. When the detective and the criminal as well as the reader and the writer seem to be in contest for the power of explanation, the pairing relation actually forms a close tie: The detective cannot live without the criminal; the reader and the writer need the eyesight of each other to survive. The New York Trilogy is not a journey providing answers but a whirl to disrupt the truth. Declining any definite inspiration, it nevertheless obliquely affirms the value of reading and writing. After exhausting complexities of the cases, only the reader remains. And what is heard even after one closes the pages is the voice of the reader encircling within the space. And the voice keeps telling and telling until the story belongs to him. We as readers will keep narrating the story with our little voice.