＂I'll Tell＂-The Function and Meaning of L in Toni Morrison's Love

「我會說出來的」－L在童妮．摩里森Love中的功用與意義

何文敬(Wen-Ching Ho)

《歐美研究》 36卷4期 (2006/12) Pp. 651-675

https://doi.org/10.7015/JEAS.200612.0651

摘要

本論文分五部分，旨在探討童妮．摩里森近作Love中L的特殊身份與她在該複雜敘事中所扮演的多種角色。除了援引韋恩．布殊的敘事理念外，也採用摩里森在新版Love中所寫的〈前言〉與〈紮根：長者為根基〉，以及福克納針對《押沙龍啊，押沙龍！》之敘事策略所做的回應，蓋兩者之敘事技巧有些共通之處。筆者主張：L身為人物乃是比爾．柯西的早期情人；了解L允為了解整部小說之關鍵，因為L身為敘事管線乃是情節發展、敘事結構與觀點的重要組件，身為小說人物，L在柯西家中扮演數個要角。身為圈內人兼敘事者，L間接提供了其他人物無法取得的訊息。此外，她負有希臘悲劇中合誦隊之功能。最後，以「love」作為第一人稱敘事者兼人物，摩里森建構了具有非裔美國特色的敘事形式，進而將小說內容與敘事本身緊密結合。

關鍵字

童妮．摩里森 ； 合誦隊 ； 長者

並列摘要

Composed of five sections, this paper attempts to investigate the identity and singularity of L in Toni Morrison's latest work Love and addresses the various roles she plays in this complex narrative. Besides appropriating some of Wayne C. Booth's ideas about narration, my investigation will also draw on Morrison's new ＂Foreword＂ to Love, Morrison's critical work ＂Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation,＂ as well as on Faulkner's discussion of his own narrative strategy in Absalom, Absalom!, which shares some of the narrative techniques used in Love. I argue that as a characte L is an object of Bill Cosey's affection, and that as she is the narrative conduit, understanding L is key to understanding the novel because she is a vital component of its plot development, narrative structure, and perspective. As a character, L plays several vital roles in the Cosey family; similarly, as an insider-narrator, L provides the missing link to information unavailable to other characters. Moreover, she also takes on the function of the chorus in a Greek tragedy. Finally, in giving voice to ＂Love＂ as the ＂I＂ narrator-cum-character, Morrison has constructed a distinctively African American form of narration, which in turn links the content back to the narrative.

並列關鍵字

Toni Morrison ； Love ； L ； chorus ； ancestor

參考文獻

Aristotle.,S. H. Butcher, Trans.,F. Fergussion, Introd.(1989).(The poetics).

Booth, W. C.(1983).(The rhetoric of fiction).

David, R.(2000).(Toni Morrison explained: A reader's road map to the novels).

Egan, P. J.(1983).Embedded story structures in Absalom, Absalom!.(American Literature).

Faulkner, W.,F. L. Gwynn,J. L. Blotner, Eds.(1959).(Faulkner in the university: Class conferences at the University of Virginia, 1957-58).