Shroud & Shock: The Bad Priest's Progress through Cyborgization to BwO in Thomas Pynchon's V.

〈壽衣〉與〈驚悚〉：論聘瓊《幽》中壞神父從「合成人」至「無器官身體」之生命歷程

李健美(Chien-Mei Lee)

《真理大學人文學報》 10期 (2011/04) Pp. 151-177

https://doi.org/10.29962/TOJA.201104.0007

摘要

不管你的好惡如何，你都須承認合成人（cyborg）的時代不但已來臨，且已把人類生存之定義重新界定。本文旨在描繪「壞神父」（The Bad Priest）在美國作家聘瓊（Thomas Pynchon）的第一部小說《幽》（V.）中，如何成功的將自己的身體轉變成青春永駐的合成人，然而最終卻難逃被孩童無心／情解體，以致身亡的命運。雖然聘瓊經常被歸類為善用科技新知之科幻小說家（cyberpunk），骨子裡他是強烈反對機械化或自動化的盧德主義（Luddism）者，因此他的作品不乏探討人文與科技衝突－「史諾式分離」（“Snovian Disjunction”）－之主題。壞神父人機合體的涵義沒有絕對的定見。一方面，可將其詮釋為女性身體長期被（父權）貶抑終至無生機境界（inanimate）之歷史，因此其肉身的死亡乃靈命重生之要件，且其被分解之肢體繼續散播著，成為新的化身或它用；另一方面，可視壞神父不老之軀最後竟被一群孩童解體，實非作者真正厭惡科技介入人體，而是壞神父罔顧人性終極關懷所致，因此書中以真人骨架製成的合成人＜壽衣＞（SHROUD）與酷似真人的假人＜驚悚＞（SHOCK）就硬塞給讀者去詮釋其存在之寓意。＜壽衣＞不但嘲笑人類生命的脆弱與難逃一死的命運，並宣稱「我與＜驚悚＞就是未來人類的命運」。聘瓊問道「作為一位盧德份子可行嗎？」，其答案應是肯定的。本文理論架構主要借用海拉威（Donna Haraway）的「合成人」（Cyborg）、史諾（Charles Snow）的「兩種文化」（Two Cultures）、德勒茲（Gilles Deleuze）與瓜達希（Felix Guattari）的「無器官身體」（Body without Organs）等概念，與聘瓊界定的「史諾式分離」與「盧德主義」交互指涉，探討聘瓊小說《幽》（V.）中人物「壞神父」從「合成人」演變至「無器官身體」之生命歷程，以為「史諾式分離」或「人機合體」之跨越與超越，並提供人類生存新的思考方面與意義。

關鍵字

聘瓊 ； 《幽》 ； 人機合體 ； 盧德主義 ； 史諾式分離 ； 無器官身體

並列摘要

Like it or not, cyborgian existence of various forms has become a reality, redefining many of the most basic concepts of human existence. This paper aims to map the evolution of the ＂Bad Priest＂ into a cyborg in Thomas Pynchon‘s first novel, V. Often classified as a writer of cyberpunk/cyberfiction, Pynchon is a ＂Luddite＂ deep down and thus constantly at odds with the so-called ＂Snovian Disjunction,＂ or battle between the human and the technological. The Bad Priest's cyborgization and disassembly is open to wide interpretation. On one hand, it speaks to the (mis) use of female body (reduced to complete inanimateness), physical death inextricably connected to spiritual re-birth, as well as other metamorphoses and scattering of bodily pieces into other avatars. On the other, such ostensibly heartless disassembly and reassembly can be seen as Pynchon's Luddite distaste for technology and its intrusion into the human body. Accordingly, SHROUD, a synthetic human whose skeleton was once that of a human being, and SHOCK, a thoroughly lifelike manikin appear to mock the future of mankind as a race. SHROUD announces: ＂Me and SHOCK are what [humans] will be someday.＂ Eventually, it all comes down to a key issue-＂What is the essence of humanity?＂ The disassembled body of the Bad Priest is essentially a ＂Body without Organs＂ (BwO) as Deleuze and Guattari understand the term vis-à-vis new body/lines of flight and the ＂Snovian Disjunction＂ between the human and the technological. With concepts appropriated from Donna Haraway's Cyborg, Charles Snow's ＂Two Cultures,＂ Deleuze and Guattari's BwO, and Pynchon's ＂Snovian Disjunction＂ and Ludddism, this paper aims to undertake a preliminary study of the eponymous heroine the Bad Priest's progress through cyborgization to eventual disassembly in Pynchon's novel V.

並列關鍵字

Pynchon ； V ； cyborgization ； Luddism ； Snovian Disjunction ； Body ； without Organs