The Power of Landscape: Place, Memory, and Identity in The Blind Assassin

在瑪格麗特‧愛特伍的《盲眼刺客》中，艾莉絲抽絲剝繭，由漫長記憶中尋找被壓抑及隱藏的部分，以對抗各種不同版本的記憶，據以尋求自我定位。愛特伍描述時間與地方之間的微妙關係，這種關係在記憶的創造、維繫、競逐、及刪除方面都扮演重要的角色。由於地方意識來自社會及文化建構，隨著時間流逝及觀看方式的改變，一個地方被賦與多層的意義。有鑑於此，地方與記憶的交鋒創造出操控論述，足以摧毀個人的自我認同及歸屬感。除了引言之外，本論文包含三個部分。〈地景、地方、與記憶〉介紹人文地理學在空間、地方、與記憶方面的理論。〈誰的記憶？誰的紀念碑？〉處理愛特伍針對記憶與自我意義提出的質疑。〈踰越與排擠〉說明操控策略如何排除踰越者以維護地方的「合理性」。本論文總結，艾莉絲終於藉由否認專斷威權的地方意識來完成自我論述。

關鍵字

瑪格麗特‧愛特伍；盲眼刺客；地方；記憶；認同

並列摘要

In Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, Iris Chase dredges up her long memory, mostly suppressed and hidden, in order to compete against various versions of memory about who she is and consequently to find her own place. Atwood addresses the tricky connection between time and place, which plays a very significant role in inventing, maintaining, contesting, or deleting memory. Since the sense of place results from social and cultural constructions, a place is ridden with layers of meaning as time elapses and as ways of seeing the place vary. The interplay between place and memory therefore produces manipulative discourses that shatter one's self-identity and sense of belonging. In addition to a general introduction, the paper consists of three sections. ”Landscape, Place, and Memory” introduces current theories on human geography in terms of space, place, and memory. ”Whose Memory? Whose Memorial?” deals with Atwood's questions about the meaning of memory and self in flux. ”Transgression and Exclusion” illustrates how manipulative strategies are used to exclude transgressors so as to define and safeguard the ”appropriateness” of place. The paper concludes that Iris eventually constructs her self-narrative by denying the arbitrary and ”authoritative” sense of place.