愛德華多‧門多薩（Eduardo Mendoza, 1943）為西班牙當今文壇老將。他的文學生涯始於1975年出版的長篇小說《薩沃達兵工廠一案的真相》（La verdad sobre el caso Savolta），其作品大多以家鄉巴塞隆納的城市地景作為背景，融合該城市於西班牙內戰前後時期及當今後佛朗哥時期的歷史書寫。門多薩於2010年出版《一個英國人在馬德里》（西文原著Riña de gatos. Madrid 1936/英譯本An Englishman in Madrid），堪稱作家的近年巨作，並榮獲「行星小說獎」（Premio Planeta），是一部包含陰謀、間諜、驚悚、政治鬥爭、愛情、幽默等不同主題的長篇小說。小說裡的多元主題也以不同的文類呈現，尤其黑色小說（novela negra）/偵探小說文類為本作品的主要敘事結構。《一個英國人在馬德里》主要描寫一位來自英國、具有西班牙黃金時期藝術史專長的年輕人安東尼（Anthony Whitelands）的故事，他接受西班牙具有貴族身分的公爵家族之委託，於1936年春天搭乘火車至西班牙馬德里，將針對公爵所珍藏的一幅據說是維拉斯維奎茲（Diego Velázquez）不為人所知的繪畫作品之真偽做評估。倘若西班牙爆發內戰，公爵打算販賣該幅畫而換取全家逃離至海外的資金。原本僅是單純的藝術品鑑賞之事宜，安東尼卻不幸捲入錯綜複雜與殘酷的情感糾結、政黨鬥爭及國際陰謀與間諜組織暴動。安東尼雖然完成辨識藝術品真偽的任務，但終究仍無法與警方破解離奇的多起謀殺案件，只能連夜搭火車返回倫敦。本論文聚焦於探討門多薩如何運用與顛覆偵探文類的模式於《一個英國人在馬德里》的混雜文類之結構，再現歷史與虛構情節所產生的衝突性。我們也將分別援引霍布瓦克（Maurice Halbwachs）的「集體記憶」（collective memory）之理論及皮爾森（Carol S. Pearson）的「內在英雄」原型理論，重新詮釋歷史記憶的意涵及建構或解構作品中所呈現的英雄論述。

Eduardo Mendoza (Barcelona, 1943) is considered as one of the most prestigious writers in contemporary Spain. His literary works, which began with the publication of his first novel La verdad sobre el caso Savolta (The Truth about the Savolta) in 1975, are generally set in Barcelona, Mendoza’s hometown, compared descriptions of the city before and after the Spanish Civil War with the present time. Winner of the 2010 Planeta Prize, Riña de gatos. Madrid 1936 (An Englishman in Madrid) is an important novel among Mendoza’s literary works in recent years. The novel is a narrative which contains diverse thematic elements such as intrigue, spying, mystery, political fights, love and humor. Through intertextual allusions to certain works, Riña de gatos is structured by hybrid literary ingredients, especially the novela negra, which functions as the principal framework of the novel. Riña de gatos is the story of an Englishman named Anthony Whitelands, a well-known art critic in Spanish Golden Age painting, who is invited to Madrid in March, 1936, to value an aristocrat’s art collection, in particular, an unknown canvas of Diego Velázquez, whose economic value can be decisive during the crucial political change in Spain. Apparently, an artistic valuation turns out to be a series of turbulent love affairs, political intrigues and espionage with which Anthony is involved unexpectedly. In spite of having accomplished his mission of authenticating the value of the painting, Anthony is unable to solve the mysterious cases of murder, and finally, he has no choice but to return to London by train. The present study aims to analyze how Eduardo Mendoza uses and subverts the detective genre as the major narrative framework of Riña de gatos to show the conflict or the dilemma between history and fiction. Furthermore, drawing from the concept of the collective memory by Maurice Halbwachs and the heroic archetypes defined by Carol S. Pearson, we will explore the de-mythification of historical memory in greater depth and (de-)construct the discourse of the hero in this novel.