女性的神話世界：瑞琪對男性神話之改寫
摘要
本論文以神話的角度來探討瑞琪的女性詩學。瑞琪相信語言是父權社會用來箝制女性的工具，但同時也是女性可藉以反擊的武器，因此她特別關注女性的創作力，而瑞琪的最終願景，則是創造一個女性的神話世界。第一章討論瑞琪的文學成長背景，檢視她何以起而抗拒她所熟悉的文學傳統：瑞琪發現傳統文學無法貼近女性的生命經驗，同時文學作品將女性窄化為他者。第二章討論男性中心的論述如何扭曲女性形象。第三章探討瑞琪對神話的改寫，將傳統神話賦予女性意識；我著重於討論瑞琪如何改寫「追尋－解救」的男性英雄模式，以及瑞琪如何重塑女性英雄形象，挖掘出在男性歷史敘事中被忽略的傑出女性。瑞琪同時也藉此建立女性的群體意識。第四章討論瑞琪對自然和身體的觀念：迥異於傳統，瑞琪常將女性身體與自然景象結合，並把自然視為女性主體與欲望的投射。第五章討論瑞琪的同性戀。瑞琪擴大女同性戀的意義，將之延伸為女性與女性之間相知相惜、互助共存的群體意識；最後瑞琪繼續擴大她削弱父權的願景，超越性別層面，延伸為對任何弱勢或邊陲團體的關注。

A Mythic World for Women: Adrienne Rich’s Revision of Male Myths
Abstract
This thesis investigates Adrienne Rich’s poetics in the light of mythmaking. Rich, believing that language has been the device with which patriarchy oppresses women and that it is also the weapon with which women can fight back, is particular aware of the influence of female creative power. Her ultimate vision, therefore, is to create a myth that women can call their own. In Chapter One, I examine the literary development of Rich, who, after being nurtured on patriarchal, canonical literature, later confronted it. Rich’s feeling was not simply that women find nothing congenial to their experience in the established literature, but also that women are stereotyped and seen as the Other in the dominant literary texts and especially in mythic ones. In Chapter Two, I explore how female images are distorted in male-centered discourses and how Rich encounters those misconceptions by resorting to myths. In Chapter Three, I investigate Rich’s rewriting of male myths, which she imbues with feminist overtones. Specifically I consider the poet’s revision of the familiar quest-and-rescue pattern, changing the nature of the quest and also the hero(ine) who undertakes it. I also consider Rich’s creation of legendary women-figures in her recurring portraits of modern or contemporary “outstanding women” whose contributions have not received the attention they deserve in a history written by men. This can be read also as a communal bonding of/ among women through the narrative of myths and (mythic or legendary) history. In Chapter Four, I discuss Rich’s non-conventional conceptions of nature and body, exploring her projection of nature as the manifestation of female desire. Chapter Five starts from discussing Rich’s lesbianism, and how she later envisions the mythic world as a female continuum in which two women are united in mutual devotion. Finally I turn to Rich’s view of language as a device by which women can reject the patriarchal myth(s) and create their own vision. Here she moves beyond the strictly feminine sphere to an egalitarian vision that embraces all of the oppressed and the marginal.

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