中文摘要
在《女神諭》中，瑪格莉特・愛特伍探究了社會與文類之傳統約束以及女性在其中所扮演的角色。文中女主角瓊・佛斯特儘管明瞭現實與浪漫理想的差異，仍然無法抑止自己消費及出產浪漫論述的慾望，甚至意圖模糊現實與浪漫間的界線。 本文以尼采哲學討論瓊不斷調換對於傳統社會文化約束的態度。我認為瓊不斷改變、產生新自我的傾向可以正向解讀為自我超越，而非消極逃避現實。雖然瓊的轉變階段重重疊疊、反反覆覆，並未如尼采《查拉圖斯特拉如是說》中｢精神三變｣循序發展，｢精神三變｣仍能詮釋瓊的精神在故事中轉換的歷程 。她對父權道德的服從與｢三變｣中第一階段的駱駝精神堅忍負重的特性相符。駱駝精神背負傳統價值並非徒然，而是為了下一階段的變形所做的準備。駱駝變形為獅子精神的過程則符合瓊對於傳統價值所加制之女性美的抗拒，以及她脫軌演出、書寫不同於以往習慣撰寫的哥德式浪漫小說的作品。在第二階段中，獅子精神否定先前駱駝所承擔的一切價值以攫取創造的自由。雖然獅子力勢強大、確言武斷，創造新價值的能力卻操之在天真戲謔、態度肯定的嬰孩精神手中。嬰孩的出現象徵自由意志，扭轉破壞的衝動轉化為創造的衝動。《女神諭》開放未決的結局無法讓人斷言瓊本身是否達成嬰孩精神的變形階段，然而她對｢胖女士｣無法壓抑的奇想回響著孩童精神的天真戲謔和對舊價值的超越。尼采哲學主張勇於肯定自我、勇於改造現實、以及極力衝創，意味沒有固定的道德價值，而愛特伍筆下的瓊也逐漸認知她需要的是肯定繁複多面的自我，而非強使自己套上條理化及單一化的桎梏，嘗試多方自我詮釋。

Abstract
In various ways, Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle investigates social and literary conventions, and women’s role in them. Despite Joan Foster’s (the heroine) awareness of the discrepancy between real life and romantic ideals, she vigorously consumes and produces romance narratives, sometimes even confusing the two together. This thesis is a Nietzschean reading of Joan’s shifting relationship with the socio-cultural conventions. I argue that her tendency to change and recreate herself can be seen as a series of positive self-overcoming, instead of being an “escape artist” who evades reality, which some critics contend. I draw on the Three Metamorphoses in Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra to interpret Joan’s development through her story, noting that her metamorphoses overlaps and does not develop chronologically as in Nietzsche’s. Her compliance to social expectations resembles the camel spirit in stage one of the Metamorphoses. The camel bears burdens of conventional values not in vain, but in preparation for later transformation. Its metamorphosis into a lion is analogous to Joan’s rebellion against the imposed values of feminine beauty, and her deviance from her usual Gothic romance creation. In this stage, the lion spirit negates all values previously burdened on the camel to create the space needed for creation of new values. Yet powerful and assertive as the lion is, the ability to create new values lies in the playful, affirmative child spirit of stage three, who is entirely the creation of its own will. One cannot conclude from the novel’s irresolute ending whether Joan achieves the child stage, but her irrepressible fantasies of a comical Fat Lady reverberates the child’s playfulness and transvaluation of values. Analogous to Nietzsche’s philosophy that constant self-overcoming and constant struggle for power mean nothing stays fixated for long, Atwood’s Joan Foster realizes that she needs to affirm her multiplicity than trying to limit herself to a single, unified self.

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