暴遊與反思－陳玉慧《書迷》的後現代刺點

陳玉慧(1957-)，臺灣當代旅歐名作家。小說《書迷》(2010)裡的作家女主角動輒環球暴遊，她也經常上網衝浪，她也雜食各式文藝名著。在資訊外爆與內爆的後現代世界中，主角行若水是一隻四處翻飛求索的花蝴蝶；但小說的底層卻總隱約地敲著一記沈沈鈍鈍的定音鼓－我是誰？暴遊之際的靜思，讓主角層層剝除「理性中心」(Logos)的「核」，質疑個體的主體性，最原汁原味的後現代大哉問。在一片「去主體」的後現代文學聲浪中，《書迷》的主旋律卻是行若水關於後現代「主體」的種種思索；因此，筆者擬援用晚期傅科(Michel Foucault)的後現代理論，探討行若水借由哪些「生存技術」，讓她得以成為能獲得「某種程度的自由與愉悅」的「行進中的主體」；此外，在一片後現代現象「平面化」的評論中，《書迷》主角身為資深的國際特派員記者，她環球暴遊、信手拈來的文化評論，卻時常犀利又有洞見。而且，《書迷》的後現代文學技巧：框架故事、拼貼、互文……使小說多元而有奇趣；而這些技巧，又能折疊收攏，漸次回魂於主角的主體思索。這是一個趣味盎然、文化觸角多元的文本，希望透過本文的研究，能夠深入地思辨《書迷》的後現代刺點及其文化意涵。

關鍵字

陳玉慧；後現代小說；《書迷》；主體

並列摘要

Chen Yu-Hui (1957-) is a contemporary Taiwanese author who has lived in Europe for many years. Her fiction, The Book Enthusiast (2010), features a female protagonist who is not only a voracious reader, but also travels extensively around the world and spends much time surfing on the internet. In the midst of the postmodern world characterized by information explosion and implosion, the protagonist Xing Ruo-Shui has been metaphorized into a butterfly who explores different parts of the world. However, underneath the plotline, one could almost hear the timpani drum humming ＂Who am I?＂ During her runaway adventures, meditation has enabled the protagonist to strip away layers of Logos, while questioning the subjectivity of the individual, the most fundamental and authentic of postmodern probe. Along with the de-subjectivation movement in postmodern literature, the theme in The Book Enthusiast focuses on the protagonist's meditation on the postmodern subject. Therefore, this article deploys the later Michel Foucault's postmodern theory to investigate the various ＂survival techniques＂ adopted by the protagonist in order to reach the state of a ＂becoming subject＂ who enjoys ＂some degree of freedom and pleasure＂. Despite the ＂flattening＂ phenomenon frequently found in the postmodern critiques, The Book Enthusiast presents a protagonist who is an international journalist, and travels around the world. Additionally, the cultural critiques of the protagonist seemed to be written randomly but offered sharp insight. The Book Enthusiast also showcases a variety of postmodern writing devices-frame story, pastiche, intertexuality, etc.-with which Chen deployed to enrich the storytelling, while offering multiple perspectives and entertainment. Notably, toward the end of the novel, Chen skillfully manipulated the narrative techniques to connect with the protagonist's meditation on subjectivity. On the basis of the present analysis, the author expects this paper to facilitate in-depth discussion on the book's postmodern punctum and its cultural meaning.