- 期刊
"The City as Art" in Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin
科拉姆．麥卡恩《讓偉大世界轉動》的「城市即藝術」史觀
摘要
Let the Great World Spin (2009) interweaves Colum McCann's historical narrative with Philippe Petit's high-wire walk, revealing peculiar socio-historical and past-present connections. The high-wire walk across the Twin Towers incarnates McCann's idea of the city as art, demonstrating different connections between life and art, past and present as well as socio-historical linkages. First, the performance creates a parallel vision of the city in which the breathtaking performance in the air reflects life's uncertainty and vulnerability in different areas, classes, and even races on the ground. The vision generates resonances among various walks of life, each striving to identify opportunities for balance. Secondly, the daunting scene of the performance takes the spectators by surprise, disrupts their habitual sensory reactions, and thrusts them into new perceptions and responses. The responses, more than reconfiguring the sensible or the visible, evoke the memories of the past and activate pressing related queries. Prominently, the memories and queries unveil unexpected socio-historical configurations and persistent dynamic relationships between the past and the present. Employing Petit's performance as the novel's central image, McCann not only makes a distinct vision of the cityscape but also distinguishes his historical perspective. Prominently, what underlies McCann's historical perspective in accounting for socio-historical intricacies is his overcoming the suspension of thought and words in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
並列摘要
在《讓偉大世界轉動》（Let the Great World Spin, 2009）書中，科拉姆．麥卡恩（Colum McCann）以菲利普．珀蒂（Philippe Petit）於1974年在紐約世貿雙子塔（Twin Towers）的高空走鋼索表演為敘述主軸，呈現獨特的歷史觀點和敘事角度。麥卡恩將藝術融入歷史敘事，打破藝術和歷史的疆界，呈現藝術和生活、現在和過去的另類連結。書中的高空走鋼索的現場表演將紐約變成藝術表達的媒介及舞台，重塑城市的時空關係，形構「城市即藝術」的概念。高空走鋼索的現場表演所凸顯的概念，除了強調城市潛在的藝術特質，讓在場觀眾成為表演的一部分。更值得探討的是，麥卡恩藉由這些既是觀眾又是藝術表演參與者的回應，揭露社會、歷史錯綜複雜的關係，呼應紐約不同區塊、階級和種族的邊緣生活，並檢視歷史事件對社會的衝擊。《讓偉大世界轉動》就某種意義而言，是後911寫作的轉向，麥卡恩以藝術切入，重塑不同時空和歷史社會交織的對應關係，以獨特的方式重新審視現在和過去的斷裂、延續和糾結。重要的是，麥卡恩的歷史敘事所融入的藝術語彙和圖像，具體跨越了911攻擊事件所造成的「思維和文字的懸置」。