距離三分鐘的美感經驗──以符號觀點閱讀幾米《忽遠忽近》

Distance of Three Minutes──The Aesthetic Experience of reading Jimmy’s So Close yet So Far

繼2008年幾米出版《向左走‧向右走》，於描繪都會男女在茫茫人海裡因緣分不具足，就算居住鄰近的兩人，始終沒能在一起。2017年幾米《忽遠忽近》出版，不同於《向左走‧向右走》成熟的男女主角始終沒能成雙成對，《忽遠忽近》裡男女主角從小就住在對街，「距離只要三分鐘」，縱使從小一起長大、一起遊戲、一起犯錯受罰，然而那「只要三分鐘」的距離，卻因為生命裡不斷的交錯、又不斷的別離，讓讀者為始終無法在一起的男女主角感受些許哀傷，以呼應書題「忽遠忽近」。西方著作給符號學的定義是：「符號學是研究符號的學說」（Semiotics is the study of signs），符號必定是攜帶意義的感知，而意義必須以符號才能表達。本論文試圖以符號敘事學理論基礎，尋找適切的價值與意義。先以有限篇幅簡單描繪本論文借用西方符號學敘事論之梗概，再就幾米《忽遠忽近》中故事精要及重要圖文符碼深入分析，幾米藉由圖文表達男女雙方的距離，由「七分鐘」、「五分鐘」，至「三分鐘」，並發現從幾米過去作品《向左走‧向右走》圖文符碼延伸發展出《忽遠忽近》。

Taiwanese famous picture-book author Jimmy’s new book, So Close yet So Far, was published in 2017. Not like his book, Turn Light Turn Righ in 2008, the main characters of So Close yet So Far live closely on the opposite of a street. With just three minutes of walking distance, the boy can arrive the girl’s house. Although the distance is so close, the boy and the girl do not turn out to be a couple in the end. The ending of the story makes readers feel a little sad, and which also echoes the main meaning of So Close yet So Far. The definition of Semiotics is ''the study of signs''. I try to read So Close yet So Far and write this paper from the Narratology point of view. Finding new modern understanding and the academic meaning of So Close yet So Far is my main purpose. Firstly, I describe the semiotic narrative theory in this paper briefly, and then analyzes the code of the story ''So Close yet So Far'', and finds that Jimmy used the codes of his old book, ''Turn Left, Turn Right '' in the current work.