英文摘要 |
This paper takes Macao dramatist and novelist Lei I-Leong’s two novels, Eye of God (2008) and Scarlet Maze (2019), as research objects. Through close reading, contextual investigation, and engagement with theories of neoliberalism and social monitoring, there are three goals to be achieved. The first is to interpret the circular narrative strategy that runs through Lei’s novels, as reflected in the design of various elements such as plot and dialogue. This strategy also manifests in the symbolic network of “character/region” and the two core imageries--“eye of God” and “law of slaughterhouse”--that can elicit multiple interpretations. Secondly, I will analyze how Macao’s special sense of place and industrial structure can be contained in the narrative. On one hand, a dual structure of “casino/total institution” and “gambling city/ slaughterhouse” exerts controlling power. On the other, there are those bodies that internalize capitalist ideology, being ruled from the inside. In the end, through my analysis, I hope that the fictional works of Macao will be able to furnish a vision in overcoming the island’s physical limitations, to have a possibility of speaking and performing themselves, on a stage greater than the “scarlet maze” and beyond the monitoring of “eye of God.” |