本論文以瓊瑤《六個夢》爲研究對象，以結構主義敘事分析及符號學的理論與方法，探討此書中同輩親屬關係的難題。此書隨著時間順序，由民前20年開始（大約光緒元年），而後民初、北伐、七七事變、抗日戰爭、戰爭結束。地點包括北平、上海、西湖、成都、重慶。時間與地點描寫的模糊非但不是缺點，反而與愛情敘事形成平行。愛情成空，猶如飄盪的意符；民國也同樣成爲縹緲的意符。筆者指出《六個夢》「不盡然沒有現代性」，此種說詞表明了浪漫愛與婚姻結合乃是現代性的核心制度，言情小說或是羅曼史催化了這種現代性；而瓊瑤早期小說，卻是更依戀的回首傳統。傳統與現代兩者的依違矛盾，以及同輩親屬關係轉變爲愛情的糾葛，使得愛情成爲一則轉型失敗的寓言，永遠停留於童年。

This paper attempts to study Six Dreams by using the theories and methods of structural functional analysis and semiotics. Six Dreams is an early book of Qiong Yao, the most famous romance writer in Taiwan. This book contains six stories and one appendix. These stories unfold with the evolving historical events of the Republic of China, such as the Sino-Japanese War. The vagueness of historical events and sites are not considered by this paper as a shortcoming. On the contrary, the historical narrative becomes parallel to the romantic narrative, and both are empty and floating signifiers referring to absence of both historical reality and romantic love. I point out Qiong Yao's works as "not-quite-not-modern," in the sense that the romance fiction as a genre must be an exploration of modernity-the institutional integration of love and marriage. Qiong Yao deals with the encounter with modernity, and her characters are after all traditional. They are frozen in kinship and childhood memory, unable to enter the adult and modern world of marriage with love. This book is, as terms used by Freud, a "family romance."