寻觅自由、归属与真我之旅 ：比较韩丽珠的《灰花》与村上春树的《海边的卡夫卡》= A quest for freedom, belonging and self-Knowledge : comparing Hon Lai Chu’s Hui Hua and Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the shore

• Main Author: 林宣真 Lim, Xuan Zhen
• Other Authors: Crossland-Guo Shuyun
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: Chinese
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::Chinese
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66105
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

本文将比较香港作家韩丽珠的《灰花》与日本作家村上春树的《海边的卡夫卡》，从贯穿其中的“寻找”主题确认它们的共通性，以及后者对前者的影响。韩丽珠为现今香港新生代作家的佼佼者，但关于她的研究寥寥无几。因此，本文盼借此良机补充这方面的学术欠缺，通过细读与对比专著归纳出他们的创作特征。此论文可分为两大部分。其一，‘寻找自由’与‘寻找归属’的章节主要追溯弗兰茨·卡夫卡对韩丽珠与村上春树的影响，尤其对于‘囚禁’与‘异化’的主题运用及深化。正如卡夫卡，两位作家表现人们禁锢在虚无都市和荒谬命运之下所产生的疏离感，深深同情他们身置其中的无奈与恐慌。然而，他们却同时批判‘卡夫卡式’文学中颓废消极的弊病，企图将它正面化。其二，‘寻找真我’的章节集中探讨《灰花》与《海边的卡夫卡》的人性之精神结构。本文以频繁出现的梦境意象为切入点，结合西格蒙德·弗洛伊德的心理分析理论，由此证明人心中不仅有潜意识的存在，也是多重性的。一言蔽之，两位作家从追寻外在的自由与归属感，转而探索内在的自我认知。韩丽珠与村上春树之间的可比性甚高，促使我们重思对他们作品的研究视角，肯定文学的普世性，以及迈向一个无疆界的世界文学异象。This thesis seeks to compare two works of Hon Lai Chu and Haruki Murakami—‘Hui Hua’ and ‘Kafka on the Shore’—by positing a strong case for their similarity based on common thematic concerns, as well as investigate the latter’s influence upon the former. Although Hon Lai Chu is an established voice among Hong Kong’s contemporary writers, research on her work remains sparse. Through close reading and comparisons of both primary texts, this essay hopes to substantiate such research by identifying dominant textual characteristics shared by both writers. This thesis may be read in two parts. Chapters 2 and 3 trace the influence of Franz Kakfa on Hon and Murakami as they appropriate and re-invent the Kafkaesque elements of entrapment and alienation. Akin to their predecessor, both authors explore the stifling isolation experienced by individuals trapped within bureaucratic confines of the cityscape, and rendered powerless through the inevitability of destiny. Characters populating the Kafkaesque universe tend to alternate between overwhelming despair and anxiety as a result of their entrapment, yet it is precisely this same vein of pessimism both authors take to task in their novels. This essay conjectures that Hon and Murakami attempt to disprove Kafkian cynicism through their literary focus on freedom and companionship as key novelistic themes. Chapter 4 converges on the psychoanalytical aspects of ‘Hui Hua’ and ‘Kafka on the Shore’, as they strive to uncover the authentic self. Dream imagery abounds in both texts as a gateway to the human psyche, therefore proving the existence of the Freudian unconscious, as well as a multiplicity of selves within the individual. In retrospect, both authors exemplify an infinite pursuit of ideals, where the external search for freedom and the validation of others eventually turns into an inward quest for self-knowledge. Not only does the comparative study of Hon Lai Chu and Haruki Murakami shed new light on traditional literary interpretations, it also affirms the universality of literature despite cultural differences, thus gesturing the reader towards the notion of a ‘borderless’ world literature.