＂Poor Mamma's Panacea＂ -The Potato in Ulysses

「可憐的媽媽的靈丹妙藥」：《尤利西斯》中的馬鈴薯

周幸君(Hsing-Chun Chou)

《歐美研究》 49卷1期 (2019/03) Pp. 1-43

https://doi.org/10.7015/JEAS.201903_49(1).0001

摘要

Wandering the streets of Dublin on 16 June 1904, it was not the latchkey which kept Leopold Bloom company, but a more indispensable talisman: the potato inherited from his mother. This potato is usually referred to at critical moments in the text. In the course of his wanderings, Bloom feels strongly reliant on this heirloom. For a long time, this shriveled potato is regarded as a talisman, corresponding with the moly Hermes gives Odysseus to protect him from Circe's magic. But where does the ＂magic＂ of this talismanic moly come from? Why does Joyce depict a reminder of the Great Irish Famine, and thus a symbol of betrayal, as a talisman for his modern-day Odysseus? The shriveled potato in Bloom's pocket, a talisman replete with significances carried by anIrish Jew, seems more mysterious than previously thought. This paper aims to investigate the significances of the potato in Ulysses by tracing the cultural heritages that have endowed it with various implications, including the Andean, the Spanish, the Irish, and the Jewish. The potato in Joyce's text is not only a complex symbol, but an icon of histories and heritages, and of the reality of daily life; thus its significations are multicultural and plural, rather than parochial and singular.

關鍵字

potato ； Ulysses ； Ireland ； talisman ； food culture

並列摘要

1904年6月16日這天，當布盧姆在都柏林街頭漫遊，伴隨著他的不是重要的大門鑰匙，而是對他而言更加不可或缺的護身符：繼承自母親的馬鈴薯。文本中這顆馬鈴薯往往在關鍵時刻被提及。在布盧姆漫步街頭的過程中，他對這項母親的遺物始終有著強烈的心理依賴。長久以來，這顆乾癟的馬鈴薯被視為護身符，等同於赫米斯贈與奧德修斯免於瑟喜魔法的靈草。但是這株護身靈草的「魔力」來自何處？為何喬伊斯在《尤利西斯》中把愛爾蘭大饑荒的提醒物／背叛的象徵描寫為其筆下現代奧德修斯的護身靈物？布盧姆口袋中乾癟的馬鈴薯，一枚由猶太裔愛爾蘭人隨身攜帶、布滿意涵的護身符，似乎遠比想像中更加神秘。本論文企圖追蹤賦予馬鈴薯種種意涵的文化來源，包含安地斯、西班牙、愛爾蘭與猶太傳統，藉以探究《尤利西斯》中馬鈴薯的重要含意。喬伊斯文本中的馬鈴薯不僅僅是個複合象徵，更是一段歷史、一項傳承、一件日常生活現實，其含意廣泛多元而非狹隘單一。

並列關鍵字

馬鈴薯 ； 《尤利西斯》 ； 愛爾蘭 ； 護身符 ； 飲食文化

參考文獻

Kelleher, M. (1997). The feminization of famine: Expressions of the inexpressible? Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Kenner, H. (1987). The aesthetic of delay. In Ulysses (Rev. ed., pp. 72-82). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Kinealy, C. (1997). A death-dealing famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland. London: Pluto Press.

Kinealy, C. (2002). The Great Irish Famine: Impact, ideology and rebellion. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

Lowe-Evans, M. (1989). Crimes against fecundity: Joyce and population control. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.