檔案書寫：麥可‧翁達傑《分離》的倫理研究

Archival Writing: The Ethical Study in Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero

陳煒婷(Wei-ting Chen)

指導教授 ： 梁一萍

國立臺灣師範大學/文學院/英語學系/碩士(2011年)

摘要

《分離》可視為麥可‧翁達傑寫作上的轉折。不同於以往關注政治及身分認同的議題，翁達傑在這本小說著重人與人之間的隱私及親密關係。著迷藝術表現的可能性及正史未說的部分，翁達傑慣於挑戰寫作的傳統及僭越未知的歷史。本文將就翁達傑的寫作風格及主題來探究《分離》中甚少被談及的倫理面向。築基於德希達的「檔案熱」(archive fever) 及列維那斯的倫理思維，筆者意欲解析小說女主角─安娜如何透過檔案書寫來回應他者的呼喚並以此轉移個人的創傷經驗。
第一章論及人們對過去的迷戀及現代身分認同政治。筆者援引德希達的「檔案熱」，企圖檢視安娜對史料的狂熱與她創傷經驗及身分危機之間的關係。第二章的討論側重於安娜尋找歷史中被消音他者的過程。本章的理論架構倚重理查‧福爾摩斯(Richard Holmes) 與蘿拉‧馬庫絲(Laura Marcus) 的論述。筆者認為透過寫作，安娜與其寫作對象之間產生了立即性及互為影響的力量。在這過程，安娜不只為歷史他者留下紀錄；相反的，他者也將喚醒安娜壓抑的過去。然而，唯有透過寫作，安娜才能間接地面對與檢視她與家人之間斷裂的關係。第三章的探討重點為檔案書寫的倫理觀。筆者挪用列維那斯的倫理論述探究安娜如何藉由回應他者的呼喚面對並了解過去的創傷。此外，透過書寫，安娜得以重新思索自我與他人的關係並建立新的倫理主體。

關鍵字：麥可‧翁達傑、德希達、檔案熱、檔案書寫、書寫他者、列維那斯、
倫理、創傷主體、《分離》

關鍵字

麥可‧翁達傑 ； 德希達 ； 檔案熱 ； 檔案書寫 ； 書寫他者 ； 列維那斯 ； 倫理 ； 創傷主體 ； 《分離》

並列摘要

Divisadero can be seen as a shift in Michael Ondaatje’s writing career. In this novel, he diverts his early concern about issues on politics and identification to the intimacy and privacy of people. Ondaatje is appealed to the fissure of artistic representation and orthodox history as he tends to experiment with writing conventions and trespass upon the unknown history. This thesis dwells on the ethical dimension of Divisadero, which is closely related to Ondaatje’s writing style and themes, but is seldom touched upon by critics. I base my discussion upon Jacques Derrida’s idea of archive fever and Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical thinking in a bid to read how Anna, the female protagonist in Divisadero, responds to the other’s call and transforms her personal trauma via archival writing.
Chapter One concerns itself with people’s obsession with the irrevocable past and modern identity politics. I apply Derrida’s idea of “archive fever” to examine Anna’s passion for the archives in relation to her traumatic memory and the crisis of her identity. Chapter Two centers on the interactive and intersubjective process of Anna’s search for the silenced other in history. The theories of Richard Holmes and Laura Marcus are used as the backbone of my interpretation in this chapter. I argue that writing creates immediacy and force between Anna and the historical other since she not only leaves traces on her target subject but suffers from autobiographical trauma in turn. However, only by means of writing can she face up to the split intimacy between her and her disclaimed family obliquely. My primary concern in Chapter Three is on the ethics of archival writing. Levinas’s theorization of ethics is employed to explore how Anna assumes a new ethical self by entering into a relationship with the other. I suggest that through writing, Anna connects her personal trauma with the suffering of the forgotten other in history. Sublimating her singular interaction with the other to an aesthetic creation, Anna turns the archives, a place where the silenced other lingers, to a place of understanding, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Keywords: Michael Ondaatje, Jacques Derrida, archive fever,
archival writing, writing the other, Emmanuel
Levinas, ethics, traumatic subjectivity,
Divisadero

並列關鍵字

Michael Ondaatje ； Jacques Derrida ； archive fever ； archival writing ； writing the other ； Emmanuel Levinas ； ethics ； traumatic subjectivity ； Divisadero

參考文獻

Backer, Timothy C. “The Art of Losing: The Place of Death in Writer’s Memoir.” Life Writing: Essays on Autobiography, Biography and Literature. Ed. Richard Bradford. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 219-233.

Benton, Michael. Literary Biography: An Introduction. MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.

Bjerring, Nancy E. “Deconstructing the ‘Desert of Facts’: Detection and Antidetection in Coming through Slaughter.” English Studies in Canada 16.3 (1990): 325-38.

Bradford, Richard, ed. Life Writing: Essays on Autobiography, Biography and Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Brothman, Brien. “Book Reviews of Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression.” Archivaria 43 (1997): 189-192.