論文提要內容：
  在北美原住民文學中，虂薏斯‧鄂翠曲的作品充滿著錯綜複雜的交織關係，強調角色彼此互相連結，有如網之脈絡。本論文要分析虂薏斯‧鄂翠曲的《四魂》中的復仇、身分認同和治療三大子題。本小說是以芙勒報仇之旅為故事的主軸，此外也穿插著另外兩位敘事者的故事。在本論文中，筆者將三大子題連結成意識之環的主題來進行討論。透過認識意識之環，讀者可以建立對北美原住民特有文化的深刻認識。     
  本論文的導論，筆者先簡述《四魂》的故事內容，並且介紹鄂翠曲撰寫故事的方法。接著將喬瑟夫‧坎貝爾的英雄式循環和鄂翠曲故事中芙勒的環狀旅程來做比較。第一章，筆者討論小說的復仇母題：有三種復仇的情景穿插在小說故事中。筆者用「遊戲」的概念來處理復仇議題。首先，筆者視書中人物用遊戲的方式來進行復仇，他們使用搗蛋鬼的遊戲策略來向他們的敵人報復；另外，筆者將復仇的情節視為一場遊戲，由於復仇就是一場遊戲，所以小說人物不會像上帝處罰壞人般的置人於之死地。第二章討論姓名與身分建構問題。名字不僅代表著一個人的身份也伴隨著所賦予的責任。筆者用凱莉‧歐莉芙的「見證」論述探討小說中身分建構議題。第三章探討認同危機與北美原住民的傳統治療方式。，筆者用一個圖表來說明小說中諸角色間的治療關係。筆者特別強調小說中特有的治療工具—藥袍。《四魂》中的藥袍不但是原住民精神的象徵也傳達重要訊息待我們去思考：一個是個人經驗的體會，另一個是生態女性主義的概念。

Abstract：
     Louise Erdrich’s novels are full of the web-like images and emphasize the interconnection among characters. In this thesis, I analyze Louise Erdrich’s Four Souls, which deals with the story of the heroine’s journey of revenge, which are interlaced with the stories of the two narrators. I regard the three topics of my thesis, revenge, identity crisis, and healing, as a “hoop of awareness” for the main characters of the novel. Grasping such a hoop can help reader to understand the unique culture and social conditions of Native Americans. 
     In the introduction of my thesis, I summarize the story of Four Souls, and introduce the Erdrich’s narrative characteristics. Moreover, I compare the cyclic journey of Fleur with Joseph Campbell’s description of “heroic cycle.” In chapter one, I discuss the theme of retaliation, which unifies the threads of the narratives of this novel. There are three revenge scenarios in Four Souls. Here, I discuss the issue of revenge with reference to the principle of game. For one thing, the major characters’ revenges are proceed with trickster-like strategies of game; for the other, I argue that the process and result of revenge is regarded as a game, which release the heated tension of conflict. In chapter two, I deal with the functions of naming and the issues of identity formation. A name not only represents one’s identity, but also is endowed with responsibility. I use Kelly Oliver’s theory on “witnessing” to discuss the theme of identity formation. In chapter three, I dwell on the problem of identity crisis and the healing way of Native Americans. I use a diagram to show the healing relationship among the characters in the novel. The “medicine dress,” an important tool of healing in the novel, implies the importance of personal experience and is delineated with significance of ecofeminism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement		
i

Chinese Abstract		
iii

English Abstract		
v

Introduction 	
	
1

Chapter One:	
Revenge and Game	
14

Chapter Two:	
Naming and Identity Formation	
29

Chapter Three:	
Identity Crisis and Healing	
43

Conclusion	
	
64

Works Cited		
70

Works Cited

Adams, Carol J., ed. Ecofeminism and the Sacred. New York: Continuum, 1993.
Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop. Boston: Beacon, 1992.
Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987.
Bammer, Angelika. Displacements: Cultural Identities in Question. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indian UP, 1994.
Bennett, Hal Zina. Spirit Animals and the Wheel of Life: Earth-Centered Practices for Daily Living. Publishing Company: Hampton Roads, 2000.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Views: Native-American Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998.
Castillo, Susan Perez. “Postmodernism, Native American Literature and the Real: The Silko-Erdrich Controversy.” Massachusetts Review: A Quarterly of Literature, the Arts and Public Affairs 32:2 (1991). <http://info.lib.tku.edu.tw/journal>
Cuddow, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literature Theory. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.
Egerer, Claudia. Fictions of (In)Betweenness. Goteborg Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 1999.
Erdrich, Louise. Four Souls. New York: Harper Perennial, 2004.
Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Hall, Donald E. Subjectivity. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-element in Culture. Boston: The Beacon Press, 1955.
Jahnke, Roger. The Healer Within. New York: HarperSan Francisco, 1997.
Jakobsen, Merete Demant. Shamanism: Traditional and Contemporary Approaches to the Mastery of Spirits and Healing. New York: Berghahn Books, 1999.
Keating, Analouise. “(De)Centering the Margins? Identity Politics and Tactical (Re)Naming.” Other Sisterhoods. Ed. Sandra Kumamoto Stanley. Urbana and Chicago: U of Illinois Press, 1998.
Kent, Nerburn, ed. The Wisdom of the Native Americans. CA: New world library, 1999.
Kidwell, Clara Sue, and Alan Velie. Native American Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005.
Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1968.
Levinas, Emmanuel. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. Pennsylvania: Duquesne, 1998.
Michaelsen, Scott,and David E. Johnson, eds. Border Theory: The Limit of Cultural Politics. London: U of Minnesota P, 1997.
Oliver, Kelly. Witnessing: Beyond Recognition. London: U of Minnesota P, 2001.
Reesman, Jeamme Campbell, ed. Trickster Lives: Culture and Myth in American Fiction. London: Georgia UP, 2001.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit. New York: A Touchstone Book, 1997.
Smith, Jeanne Rosier. Writing Tricksters: Mythic Gambols in American Ethic Literature. Los Angeles: U of California P, 1997.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Post-Colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. New York: Routledge, 1995.
Swideler, Leonard, and Paul Mojzes. The Study of Religion in an Age of Global Dialogue. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2000.
Tedlock, Barbara. The Woman in the Shaman’s Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam Books, 2006.
“The autobiography of Du Bois.” Wakipedia. 21 May 2008, <http://en. wedia.org/
     wiki/W. E. Du Bois>.
Warren, Karen. Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, INC., 2000.