本文重在分析梅爾維爾的史詩《克萊柔：聖地朝聖之詩》中表現的對男性情誼的渴望。男性情誼是男性間一種深刻的友誼。從心理以及精神層面來看，渴望這種情誼與男同性愛類似，但是前者是無關情欲的。舉個例子，《白鯨記》中以實瑪利對魁魁格的感情就更適合稱作男性情誼而非男同性愛。本文認爲，克萊柔對西利歐（Celio）和薠（Vine）的渴慕純粹是精神上的渴慕，而他對那個對那個里昂青年（the Lyonese)卻毫無渴慕之情可言。這個觀點跟很多學者前輩們的觀點不同，他們認爲克萊柔對男性的情是跟性欲望沾邊的。本文指出，他們之所以得出這種結論是由於沒有從整體上去把握這首詩。他們抓住了一些模糊的表述，卻忽略了這些表述與上下文的關係。本文對這首詩的分析會格外注意它的完整性。同時，本文也會借助一些文本外的材料，比如艾默生的文章、霍桑的小説、梅爾維爾的通信以及他另外一首詩《歡會之後》(“After the Pleasure Party”)。本文的論述主要分爲四個部分，大致跟這首詩的四個部分吻合。

This paper discusses the desire for male intimacy in Melville’s epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. Male intimacy is intense friendship, the desire for which partakes of spiritual and psychological aspects of homosexual desires but differs from them in that it is not sexual. As an indicative instance, the relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg is more appropriately called “male intimacy” than “the homosexual.” This paper argues that Clarel’s yearning for Celio and Vine is purely spiritual and that the Lyonese is not an object of desire for Clarel. This view is a challenge to many earlier critics’ belief that Clarel’s spiritual pursuit is tinged with eroticism. Their belief, as this paper will demonstrate, results from a limited reading of the poem. That is, they insist on some ambiguous statements without enough regard to the context. This paper attempts to read Clarel closely and comprehensively. It will resort to some external texts, such as Emerson’s writings, Hawthorne’s novels, and Melville’s correspondence, as well as his poem “After the Pleasure Party.” The body of this paper matches the structure of the poem: the four chapters correspond respectively to its four parts.

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