醃製歷史與時間: 魯西迪《午夜之子》中身體的再銘寫

Chutnification of History and Pickling of Time: Bodily Reinscription in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children

陳瑋光(WEI KUANG CHEN)

指導教授 ： 李政展

國立暨南國際大學/人文學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2012年)

https://doi.org/10.6837/NCNU.2012.00146

摘要

此論文研究探討在魯西迪《午夜之子》中對印度近代歷史的另類書寫。文本中主角薩林姆以醃製印度風味歷史的手法處理歷史書寫與時間記憶等概念。他的處理手法成為一種歷史哲學。薩林姆在建構個人家族史，同時也批判了歷史書寫背後的權力操控以及對血統/啟源(origin)的迷思。第一章以系譜學的概念及架構探討歷史書寫，特別是從薩林姆的角度檢視歷史是如何被語言虛構及其虛構過程。另類系譜的建構揭露了被歷史大敘述掩埋的歷史縫隙(disparity)，藉由突顯歷史敘述中無法協調一致的時間敘述來尋求詮釋歷史的其他可能性。第二章以身體為歷史書寫的介面為理論基礎探討身體與歷史間的關係。當身體因為歷史暴力而產生變形進而醜化而顯得怪誕(grotesque)，藉由怪誕身體的意象反映出印度社會整體生理上的疾病，也同時具體的描繪出印度病態的歷史發展與過程。本文不僅檢視怪誕身體意象在語言結構之外的象徵性意義，並探討怪誕身體是如何成為個人身體與國家歷史間互動的主要媒介。

關鍵字

系譜學 ； 縫隙 ； 身體 ； 怪誕 ； 醃製 ； 居間性

並列摘要

This thesis explores the alternative historiography of modern Indian history in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. The protagonist Saleem’s chutnification of history and pickling of time become a philosophy of history in which the alternative genealogy challenges not only official history but also the myth of origin. Chapter one develops the notion of history in genealogical framework in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, especially through the perspective of the protagonist Saleem Sinai. The construction of alternative genealogy suggests historical disparity buried under the master narrative of national documentations and exposes the fictionality of the myth of origin. The point of alternative genealogy is to explore the discordant nature of time in narrative, and therefore to reach the effects of interrogating historical truth and uncovering possible ways of interpretation of history at the same time. Chapter two explores the relation between body and history, and supposes that the body serves as the inscribed surface of history. When the body is deformed under historical violence and becomes grotesque, it shows the image of India’s pathological history and reflects the grotesque realities of the larger body of community with physical diseases. The supposition looks for the symbolic signification on the grotesque body outside linguistic construction and examines how the grotesque body becomes the prime agent of the interactive process between individual body and public history.

並列關鍵字

genealogy ； disparity ； body ； grotesque ； chutnification ； in-betweenness

參考文獻

Agarwalla, Shyam. “Third World Literature as National Allegory: Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.” Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Ed. Reena Mitra. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2006. 60-81.

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