僧侶

[英] M. G. 劉易斯（Lewis）的《僧侶》（The Monk）

副標題: 外國爭議文學名著叢書

作者: [英] M. G. 劉易斯

頁數: 430

定價: 20

裝幀: 平裝

叢書: 外國爭議文學名著叢書

ISBN: 9787530626849

馬修·劉易斯，英國小說家，劇作家，生於倫敦，1796年出版小 說《僧侶》，因而獲和得“僧人劉易斯”的綽號。他還著有劇本《舌堡魅影》《東印度人》、《韃靼帖木兒》等，並與瓦爾特，司各特、羅伯特，騷塞合作，出版詩集《神聖故事》。他寫的一些歌謠對司各特的早期詩歌創作產生了影響。

【中文摘要】其中，在造成Ambrosio腐敗的眾多原因中，以宗教的禁慾生活跟人與生俱來的性慾所產生的衝突最為顯注。由於長期與修道院外面的真實世界隔離，再加上天主教偶像崇拜的理念，使得Ambrosion只能認得，且只接受唯一的一種女性的特質，那就是聖母瑪利亞那種無瑕完美的女性典型。因此，聖母瑪利亞也就自然而然的變成他慾望的原型及對像。也就是這種對神聖的情慾化以及對女性的理想化，才造成Ambrosio最後萬劫不復的結局。

路易斯透過Ambrosio這個人物，事實上是要宣揚中庸的哲理。社會制度與組織對個人慾望的壓抑，及其後來慾望解放的反彈力量都是非常具有破壞性；且常常容易失控的。有鑒於此，十八世紀末爆發的法國大革命及其訴求，常常會跟同時期流行於英國的驚悚小說中的素材及表現方法產生聯想，並且做比較。反教會，反特權及反壓迫的革命力量，以及後來所引發的暴力，混亂與失控埸面往往會透過驚悚小說以寓言的方式程現出來。

此外，透過女性情慾在小說中的展現，路易斯把重點放在對傳統的關註上。他同時認為，個人慾望的滿足，跟一己幸福的追求，是有必要適度地與社會的道德規範做妥協。總得說來，社會秩序與階級才是路易斯所支持的。不過他所支持的秩序與階級是更開明且革新的，是經過與改革的力量和個人的訴求談判后的結果。

最後，從小說的出版跟當時讀者的反應來看，不難發現，類似的衝突也發生在作者身上。路易斯面臨了如何在個人寫作的理念，創作的堅持，跟社會期待與責任上來做妥協。雖然他最後做出了讓步，把一些政府或批評家認為不道德或褻瀆的章節刪去；不過也有人指出，這些動作只不過是表面的妥協或敷衍的動作，因為路易斯一直都以寫了這本小說為傲，且也很享受被稱呼為“Monk Lewis”, 這外號當然來自於他的得意之作《僧侶》。

【英文摘要】 Matthew Lewis’s The Monk focuses on the process of Ambrosio’s moral and sexual fall from a holy saint of Madrid to an outrageous criminal. Among the causes of his rapid corruption, the conflict between the continent life of religion and human instinctual sexual desire is the main one. Because of the seclusion from the world outside the monastery and the Catholic idolatry, in Ambrosio’s world, there is only one type of femininity which he regards as true and acceptable, that is, the ideal type of the sacred Virgin Mary. Hence, the Virgin Mary naturally becomes the archetype or the object of his desire. It is this sexualizaion of the sacred as well as the idealization of femininity that causes Ambrosio’s final perdition.

Taking Ambrosio as an example, Lewis actually means to advocate a moderatism philosophy. The repression of desire imposed by oppressive institutions on individuals is as destructive as the unbridled release of excessive passion. In this sense, the French Revolution, which happened also in the boom times of Gothic novels at the end of eighteenth century, was usually associated with the main concern of the contemporary Gothic writing. Therefore, revolutionary forces against clericalism and corrupt social institutions and systems as well as their consequent excess and violence are often allegorized through the Gothic novels.

Moreover, through the representation of female sexuality in The Monk, Lewis also puts emphasis on the value of tradition and thinks it necessary to compromise individual pursuit for happiness with social and moral regulations. Indeed, it’s the social order and hierarchy that Lewis supports but they are the order and hierarchy with some reformation and modification after the negotiation with rebellious forces and individual struggles.

At last, in terms of the publication of The Monk and its reception, we can also see the conflict between the writer’s individual freedom and public moral concerns. Under a strict censorship, Lewis was demanded by the government to expurgate some “immoral” passages in case it should pollute the reader’s mind. As a result, not only Lewis’s characters in the book but also himself had to face the dilemma how to reconcile personal desires with social expectations or whether to recklessly pursue the self integrity even at the expense of moral values and conventions. He reconciled eventually and had the following editions published with the expurgation of the immoral paragraphs. However, some critics point out that the action is just a cynical gesture or compromise while Lewis in fact quite enjoyed being called Monk Lewis, which, of course, is in association with its putative obscene book, The Monk.