尼爾‧蓋曼（Neil Gaiman）是當代奇幻大師、重要的圖像小說創作者，並名列《文學傳記辭典》十大後現代作家，被史蒂芬‧金（Stephen Edwin King）稱為「故事寶窟」。蓋曼於1960年英國出生，二十七歲時以《睡魔》（The Sandman）系列崛起。《睡魔》榮獲世界奇幻雨果獎、艾斯納獎、安古蘭漫畫節編劇獎等獎項，登上《紐約時報》最佳暢銷書，也成為與《守望者》（Watchman）、《蝙蝠俠─黑暗騎士歸來》（Batman: The Dark Knight Returns）齊名的重要圖像小說。本計劃研究的主題《睡魔2: 玩偶之家》（The Sandman 2: The Doll’s House），即是《睡魔》系列中極具代表性的第二集。將以德希達（Jacques Derrida）《書寫與差異》（Writing and Difference）中對拓路與延異的概念，以及互文性的角度切入，詮釋其透過書寫重新修補當代神話的意涵與解中心之後現代文學特質。分析方法參考瑪麗‧路薏斯‧馮‧法蘭茲（Marie-Louise von Franz）《解讀童話》（The Interpretation of Fairy Tales）與提里‧格容斯帝恩（Groensteen Terry）《漫畫與敘事》（Comic and Narration），以探索圖像小說中的心理原型與後現代風格。
Neil Gaiman is a contemporary master of fantasy and a central figure in the world of graphic novels. He is listed as one of the top ten postmodern writers in “The Dictionary of Literary Biography” and has been described by Stephen King as “a treasure house of story.” Born in England in 1960, Gaiman became famous at the age of 27 due to his comic book series The Sandman, which won several awards, including the World Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and the Prize for Scenario at the Angouleme International Comics Festival. In addition, it was included in the New York Times Best Seller list. It later became an influential graphic novel, enjoying popularity alongside Watchman and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This study analyzes “The Doll’s House,” the second volume of The Sandman, and references the concepts of bahnung and differance, which were explored in Jacques Derrida’s Writing and Difference, and the concept of intertextuality. This study intends to illustrate that the meaning of contemporary mythology has been reclaimed through graphic art, which retains the core characteristics of postmodern literature. Marie-Louise von Franz’s The Interpretation of Fairy Tales and Thierry Groensteen’s Comics and Narration were used as references for designing the analytical framework for the exploration of the psychological prototypes in the story and the postmodernist style of the graphic novel.
