潛抑的回訪論莫莉森的小說《摯愛》中的記憶圖像與歷史救贖

The Return of the Repressed: On the Mnemonic Images and Redemption in Toni Morrison's Beloved

蔡佳瑾(Chia-Chin Tsai)

《英美文學評論》 6期 (2003/11) Pp. 35-76

https://doi.org/10.6711/REAL.200311_(6).0002

摘要

東妮•莫莉森在《摯愛》這部小說中以女嬰摯愛的回魂表徵受潛抑(repressed)的創傷記憶(traumatic memory)的回訪。賽特口中所謂的「重憶」乃是現在與過去共存的狀態，具有班雅民理論中「进出式記憶」(involuntary memory)之特質，二者同樣來自於無意識，也都以圖像的方式閃現：由於莫莉森使重憶具有集體性，小說中的記憶圖像於是含帶歷史性，也就是班雅民歷史觀中的「辯證圖像」－彼時與此時共存的霎那。摯愛的出現勾起許多「不被記得也未經解釋」的悲慘往事，她本身是被賽特所殺的女嬰的幽魂，也就是賽特受潛抑的創傷記憶的回返；然而莫莉森也讓摯愛的記憶（奴隸船中的慘況）帶有集體性，這使得摯愛本身就是辯證圖像的具體呈現—她是來自過去、未曾被接納認可的個人記憶與歷史記憶，不斷向人吶喊，以求被注目與認識。摯愛所召喚出來的記憶使得小說中其他人物得以面對過去與自我，達成對黑人社群的認同，並同時藉由說書對抗白人的官方書面歷史，以在歷史廢墟中得著救贖。

關鍵字

重憶 ； 命名 ； 記憶痕跡 ； 潛抑的回訪 ； 創傷記憶 ； 迸出式記憶 ； 記憶圖像 ； 辯證圖像 ； 身份認同 ； 歷史救贖 ； 彌賽亞時間

並列摘要

In Toni Morrison's Beloved, the apparition of the ghost, Beloved, symbolizes the return of the repressed memories. The remembrance of the repressed traumatic past, which Sethe calls ”rememory,” is depicted as the conflation of the present and the past, coinciding with Walter Benjamin's characterization of traumatic memory as ”involuntary memory.” Both rememory and involuntary memory spring from the unconscious in the form of mnemonic images. Since rememory is also represented as the collective memory of the slavery past, the mnemonic images in the novel inevitably contain historicity; that is, the images are, in the historical aspect, what Benjamin terms ”dialectic images”-the Then (das Gewesene) and the Now (das Jetzt) come into a constellation like a flash of lightning. Having induced many ”disremembered and unaccounted for” traumatic memories, including the memory of the miserable life inside the slave boat, Beloved herself, returning as the ghost of Sethe's daughter, represents not only Sethe's repressed memory but also the collective memory of the black's slavery past. Therefore, Beloved can be regarded as the embodiment of the dialectic image-she comes from the unrecognized and unaccepted individual and collective memory, calling for people's gaze and recognition. The memories Beloved has evoked cause the characters to confront their traumatic past and their innermost selves, to reach identification with the black community and to defy the official written history of the white with their story-telling so as to finally obtain redemption in the wreckage of history.

並列關鍵字

rememory ； naming ； memory traces ； the return of the repressed ； traumatic memories ； involuntary memory ； mnemonic images ； dialectic images ； identity ； redemption in history ； messianic time

參考文獻

Benjamin, Walter,Hannah Arendt,Harry Zohn(1969).Illuminations.New York:Schoeken.

Benjamin, Walter,Edmund Jephcott(1978).Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiagraphical Writings.New York:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Benjamin, Walter,Harry Zohn(1989).Charles Boudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism.London:Verso.

Benjamin, Walter,Gary Smith(1989).Benjamin: Philosophy Aesthetics, History.Chicago:U of Chicago P.

Bonnet, Michél(1997).To Take the Sin Out of Slicing Trees…: The Law of the Tree in Beloved.African American Review.31(1),41-54.