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摘要：玄学侦探小说《死亡与罗盘》颠覆了传统侦探小说创作模式，采用戏仿，反讽，拼凑等非常规性以实现本体论的自我关照。本文通过参照传统侦探小说创作准则，以玄学侦探小说的具体特征为理论依据分析《死亡与罗盘》。
关键词：玄学侦探小说 颠覆 迷宫 戏仿
Analysis on the Metafiction death and the compass
Du Yazun
School of Foreign Languages and Literatures， Lanzhou University
Abstract： The metaphysical detective story “Death and the Compass” subverted traditional the creation mode of traditional detective novels， using parody， sarcasm to realize ontology in an unconventional way. By comparing with the traditional detective novels， the aim is to analyze “Death and the Compass” by specific characteristics of metaphysical detective.
Key-words： metaphysical detective story subversion labyrinth parody
1. The Meaning of Studying on Metafiction
The metaphysical detective story “Death and the Compass” of the famous Argentina literary hero Jorge Luis Borges subverted the traditional detective story’s routines. In his imaginative and often puzzling stories， many of which are involving complex physiological themes. “Burges’s works embraces the” character of the unreality in all literature”， and the often recurring circular labyrinth can be seen as a metaphor of life or a riddle.”[1] The plot of the “Death and the Compass” as followed： the detective L?nnrot linked a murder case with mystical religious philosophy and made a speculation on his own. The murderer Scharlach followed his mind-set and designed two cases in order to lead the arrogant detective thought he was right. When he thought he has found the criminal and went to somewhere alone， he fell into the trap and shot by the criminal.
Metafiction， also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature， is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction， exposing the fictional illusion. Metafiction uses techniques to draw attention to itself as a work of art， while exposing the "truth" of a story. It can be compared to presentational theatre， which does not let the audience forget it is viewing a play； metafiction does not let the reader forget he or she is reading a fictional work.
2. Subversion of the Character
Metaphysical detective story as a variation of detective story has been developed for decades. The term “Metafiction” always combined with Postmodernism， the “Metafiction” of the detective story is “metaphysical detective story”. Metaphysical detective story as one of the phenomena of postmodern literature in that it uses the unusual methods like parody， sarcasm to realize the “self-reflexivity” and “self-consciousness” of fictionality in real world. Anyway， metaphysical detective story cannot provide readers reasons of some mysterious deaths and lead them to explore confusion of life， which cannot satisfy readership but lead them to endless loss. 3. Parody in the Metafiction
The use of parody is one of the prominent features of metaphysical detective story. At the beginning of the story， detector L?nnrot found inconclusive sentence：” the first letter of the Name has been spoken.” This sentence is the parody of the Latin line “perdidit antiquum litera prima sonum” in the Edgar Allen Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue”. [4] What’s more， in the both novels， there are two pure thinkers. In “Murders in the Rue Morgue” is Auguste Dupin. In “Death and the Compass” is the protagonist detector L?nnrot. But the difference is the real clever man Auguste Dupin used his intelligence solved the case. On the contrary， detector L?nnrot became the victim himself in the end of the story， which shocked and inspired the readers to think more about the infinity of space and time. David Lodge once said in The Art of Fiction： “the writer of metafiction are good at put criticism in the text and make it a fiction. In addition， they belittle the principle of traditional detective story through parody.”[5]Using parody to keep the original text and the formation， but it would change the theme and meaning. Parody in “Death and the Compass” break the duality of “interior” and “exterior” in the original detective story， which makes content become formation， the formation is also the content， they two become one.
4 The Labyrinth of Death
The labyrinth of the story is more like a game of fate. The murderer used the habitual thinking and the blind faith of the detective to set him up.
The first man died in the north of the city， the following ones died in the west and the east. They three made the most solid geometric figure—triangle. In the mean time， the implication “the N letter of the Name has been spoken”， readers would naturally connect these three people together with this implication， but the ending is totally out of blue， from the detective consciousness， there must be the fourth point to complete the rhombus. From the story， it is not difficult to find that Burges use the “space” to inference. “Trying to find an exact point in the space is practical impossible， the ending is best the evidence of the space cannot be simplified.”[3]
5. Conclusion
The metaphysical detective story no longer concerns the concrete fictional outside world， but the novel itself， which critics referred to， the experiment of self-reflexive nature. The metaphysical detective story “Death and the Compass” subverted traditional the creation mode of traditional detective novels in three ways： the failed detective， the labyrinth and the open ending. In Burges’s novels which concerning “labyrinth” break the old law of detective story and find a new way to reveal the theme of labyrinth.
Notes
1.袁洪庚 魏晓旭 冯立丽：《侦探小说：作品与评论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011年。
2. 袁洪庚：“旧瓶中的新酒：玄学侦探小说论”.《兰州大学学报：社会科学版》，1998年（2）。
3.陈蔷：“从侦探小说到哲理小说：看博尔赫斯“迷宫命题“的转变过程”。《乐山师范学院学报》， 2007.（2）
4. 袁洪庚 魏晓旭 冯立丽：《侦探小说：作品与评论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011年，p.43
5. David Lodge： The Art of Fiction. London： Vintage 1992.
Bibliography
Lodge， David： The Art of Fiction. London： Vintage 1992.
陈蔷：“从侦探小说到哲理小说：看博尔赫斯“迷宫命题“的转变过程”。《乐山师范学院学报》 2007.2月
袁洪庚 魏晓旭 冯立丽 《侦探小说：作品与评论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011年
简介：杜亚尊（1992.5——），女，汉族，甘肃临洮，兰州大学外国语学院2013级英语语言文学专业研究生。
关键词：玄学侦探小说 颠覆 迷宫 戏仿
Analysis on the Metafiction death and the compass
Du Yazun
School of Foreign Languages and Literatures， Lanzhou University
Abstract： The metaphysical detective story “Death and the Compass” subverted traditional the creation mode of traditional detective novels， using parody， sarcasm to realize ontology in an unconventional way. By comparing with the traditional detective novels， the aim is to analyze “Death and the Compass” by specific characteristics of metaphysical detective.
Key-words： metaphysical detective story subversion labyrinth parody
1. The Meaning of Studying on Metafiction
The metaphysical detective story “Death and the Compass” of the famous Argentina literary hero Jorge Luis Borges subverted the traditional detective story’s routines. In his imaginative and often puzzling stories， many of which are involving complex physiological themes. “Burges’s works embraces the” character of the unreality in all literature”， and the often recurring circular labyrinth can be seen as a metaphor of life or a riddle.”[1] The plot of the “Death and the Compass” as followed： the detective L?nnrot linked a murder case with mystical religious philosophy and made a speculation on his own. The murderer Scharlach followed his mind-set and designed two cases in order to lead the arrogant detective thought he was right. When he thought he has found the criminal and went to somewhere alone， he fell into the trap and shot by the criminal.
Metafiction， also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature， is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction， exposing the fictional illusion. Metafiction uses techniques to draw attention to itself as a work of art， while exposing the "truth" of a story. It can be compared to presentational theatre， which does not let the audience forget it is viewing a play； metafiction does not let the reader forget he or she is reading a fictional work.
2. Subversion of the Character
Metaphysical detective story as a variation of detective story has been developed for decades. The term “Metafiction” always combined with Postmodernism， the “Metafiction” of the detective story is “metaphysical detective story”. Metaphysical detective story as one of the phenomena of postmodern literature in that it uses the unusual methods like parody， sarcasm to realize the “self-reflexivity” and “self-consciousness” of fictionality in real world. Anyway， metaphysical detective story cannot provide readers reasons of some mysterious deaths and lead them to explore confusion of life， which cannot satisfy readership but lead them to endless loss. 3. Parody in the Metafiction
The use of parody is one of the prominent features of metaphysical detective story. At the beginning of the story， detector L?nnrot found inconclusive sentence：” the first letter of the Name has been spoken.” This sentence is the parody of the Latin line “perdidit antiquum litera prima sonum” in the Edgar Allen Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue”. [4] What’s more， in the both novels， there are two pure thinkers. In “Murders in the Rue Morgue” is Auguste Dupin. In “Death and the Compass” is the protagonist detector L?nnrot. But the difference is the real clever man Auguste Dupin used his intelligence solved the case. On the contrary， detector L?nnrot became the victim himself in the end of the story， which shocked and inspired the readers to think more about the infinity of space and time. David Lodge once said in The Art of Fiction： “the writer of metafiction are good at put criticism in the text and make it a fiction. In addition， they belittle the principle of traditional detective story through parody.”[5]Using parody to keep the original text and the formation， but it would change the theme and meaning. Parody in “Death and the Compass” break the duality of “interior” and “exterior” in the original detective story， which makes content become formation， the formation is also the content， they two become one.
4 The Labyrinth of Death
The labyrinth of the story is more like a game of fate. The murderer used the habitual thinking and the blind faith of the detective to set him up.
The first man died in the north of the city， the following ones died in the west and the east. They three made the most solid geometric figure—triangle. In the mean time， the implication “the N letter of the Name has been spoken”， readers would naturally connect these three people together with this implication， but the ending is totally out of blue， from the detective consciousness， there must be the fourth point to complete the rhombus. From the story， it is not difficult to find that Burges use the “space” to inference. “Trying to find an exact point in the space is practical impossible， the ending is best the evidence of the space cannot be simplified.”[3]
5. Conclusion
The metaphysical detective story no longer concerns the concrete fictional outside world， but the novel itself， which critics referred to， the experiment of self-reflexive nature. The metaphysical detective story “Death and the Compass” subverted traditional the creation mode of traditional detective novels in three ways： the failed detective， the labyrinth and the open ending. In Burges’s novels which concerning “labyrinth” break the old law of detective story and find a new way to reveal the theme of labyrinth.
Notes
1.袁洪庚 魏晓旭 冯立丽：《侦探小说：作品与评论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011年。
2. 袁洪庚：“旧瓶中的新酒：玄学侦探小说论”.《兰州大学学报：社会科学版》，1998年（2）。
3.陈蔷：“从侦探小说到哲理小说：看博尔赫斯“迷宫命题“的转变过程”。《乐山师范学院学报》， 2007.（2）
4. 袁洪庚 魏晓旭 冯立丽：《侦探小说：作品与评论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011年，p.43
5. David Lodge： The Art of Fiction. London： Vintage 1992.
Bibliography
Lodge， David： The Art of Fiction. London： Vintage 1992.
陈蔷：“从侦探小说到哲理小说：看博尔赫斯“迷宫命题“的转变过程”。《乐山师范学院学报》 2007.2月
袁洪庚 魏晓旭 冯立丽 《侦探小说：作品与评论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011年
简介：杜亚尊（1992.5——），女，汉族，甘肃临洮，兰州大学外国语学院2013级英语语言文学专业研究生。