超越異己：潛在性關係與魯西迪《佛羅倫斯女巫》

Beyond Difference: Potential Relationality and Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence

郭虹伶

指導教授 ： 陳春燕

國立臺灣師範大學/文學院/英語學系/碩士(2011年)

摘要

當薩爾曼‧魯西迪面對東西相遇的傳統議題，他並未強調大相逕庭的文化差異，而是極力展現人類之共同性。魯西迪在作品中安排多組東西方間的倒映與回聲，以突顯出一個訊息：我們之間同大於異。由於魯西迪的《佛羅倫斯女巫》中暗藏這個訊息，若只是將魯西迪作品視為一種對於跨國語境之混合文化認同的讚頌，並無法呈現其作品的全貌。本論文不進行差異的探討，旨在尋找《佛羅倫斯女巫》中的潛在關係性。本文中的潛在關係性係指構築在人類潛在之共同性上的一種關聯。潛在性關係不受制於任何既定的身分認同系統，而是建立在人類之共通點上面。本研究援引海德格與史碧娃克之論點來探討潛在性關係。

本論文分為四個章節。第一章回顧身分認同與認同政治在跨國情境下的演變，綜觀關於身分認同的既有文獻後，發現認同政治和其運用仍有不足之處。此外，本章節回顧近代針對世界主義的討論，發現在現存國家框架下的現代之世界主義仍有其侷限。第二章採用史碧娃克的倫理觀來解析《佛羅倫斯女巫》。史碧娃克將「他者」(the other)重新命名為「他性」(alterity)，不以全球化來作概括的論述，而是將地球視為歸屬於另一體系的行星。即地球是人類的他性，而人類也亦是居住於其中的他性。他性透露出個體的不可理解性。若要逼近不可理解的他性則需運用想像。為了豐富史碧娃克的倫理思考並發掘人類之共同性，本章節亦採用海德格的本體論思考。海德格提出人與存有會「互相汲取」，本論文以此論點作為討論個體之潛在性關係的模式。第三章以倫理觀點審視《佛羅倫斯女巫》，企圖超脫認同政治。魯西迪不拘泥於差異，提倡要回溯到人的共同性，來找出個體之潛在性關係。本論文檢視依據書中的倒映和回聲、書中角色與蒙兒兀帝國之間的各種潛在性關係，發現魯西迪企圖要在其小說世界構築潛在性關係。第四章歸納先三章的論點並作出結論。本研究顯示《佛羅倫斯女巫》中的倒映與回聲並非純屬巧合，而是展現人類之共同性的力證。本章節亦為將來有關《佛羅倫斯女巫》和星球性的相關研究提出建議。

關鍵字

魯西迪 ； 潛在共同性 ； 潛在關係性 ； 海德格 ； 史碧娃克

並列摘要

Dealing with an age-old issue of the East meeting the West, Salman Rushdie does not intensify incommensurable cultural differences but endeavors to display possible commonality of man. Juxtaposing pairs of mirrorings and echoes between the East and the West, he attempts to accentuate one message. That is, we are actually more similar to each other than we are different from each other. Discovering this hidden message in The Enchantress of Florence , I find it insufficient to read Rushdie’s work merely as a celebration of hybrid cultural identity in the transnational context. To depart from the discussion of difference, this thesis tries to find out potential relationality. By potential relationality, I refer to a possible connection based on potential commonality shared by us. This relationality is not subjected to any pre-determined identity unity, but is built upon a common feature shared by man. In this thesis, I draw on both Spivak’s and Heidegger’s threads of thinking to formulate my idea of potential relationality.

This thesis is composed of four chapters. In the first chapter I review the transformation of identity and identity politics in the transnational context. From previous discussions of identity, I find limitations of identity politics and its use of politics of difference. I also review contemporary discussions of cosmopolitanism and find that the modern sense of cosmopolitanism still finds its limits within the existing national frameworks. In the second chapter, I adopt Spivak’s ethical theoretical approach to read this novel. Spivak re-names the other as “alterity” and sees the earth as a planet belonging to another system other than globalization. That is, the planet is an alterity to us and we are also alterities living on this planet. Alterity indicates the opacity of an individual. To approach the impenetrable other, we need to exercise imagination to imagine alterity. To enrich Spivak’s ethical thinking and to find out possible commonality shared by us, I also turn to Heidegger’s ontological thinking. His idea of mutual appropriation between man and Being serves as a model of potential relationality between individuals. To depart from the vein of identity politics, I read the novel from this ethical perspective in the third chapter. Instead of focusing on difference, Rushdie proposes that we go back to the commonality to look for possible relationality among individuals. And I argue that from all the mirroring and echoes, he intends to build up a potential relationality in his fictional world. I also examine each type of the possible relationality among the fictional characters and the “Mughal empire.” The fourth chapter sums up my arguments discussed previously and I conclude that the mirroring and echoes are no coincidence but the evidence of the shared commonality of man. Besides, I also enumerate some possible perspectives for further study of Rushdie’s Enchantress and Spivak’s idea of planetarity.

並列關鍵字

Salman Rushdie ； possible commonality ； potential relationality ； Martin Heidegger ； Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

參考文獻

Works Cited

Ahmad, Aijaz. “Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and the ‘National Allegory.’” Social Text 17 (1987): 3-25.

Brennan, Timothy. “Cosmopolitans and Celebrities.” Race & Class 31.1 (1989): 1-19.

British Council Arts. “Contemporary Writers: Salman Rushdie.” British Council Literature. 2008. British Council. 8 Feb. 2011. .

Chatterjee, Partha. “Beyond the Nation? Or Within?” Social Text 16.3 (1998): 57-69.