The Rhetoric of Disability: The Dilemma of Colonial Discourse in Mardi

梅爾維爾(Herman Melville)的《瑪地》(Mardi, 1949)可被視爲是探討十九世紀西方自我與文化他者之關係的寓言式旅行敘事。學者曾指出，旅行書寫，特別是南太平洋的旅行書寫，對梅爾維爾影響至巨。尤其關於波里尼西亞之旅行日誌提供他豐富的寫作材料。不過，這些材料也成爲帝國的指涉綱領(imperial frame of reference)，我們可以用之來檢視殖民主義及其修辭策略，特別是失能修辭。將文化他者視爲失能成爲殖民的合理性。敘述者從字面與譬喻上反復運用失能修辭來描述瑪地及其週遭島嶼的人事物。某些人物如賈爾(Jarl)變得無聲，又如沙摩阿(Samoa)的截肢，或是唐加洛洛王(King Donjalolo)認識論上的盲目；而跛子島更進一步成爲運用失能修辭的縮影。不過，敘述者也將失能策略運用於批判西方自我。維文沙國（Vivenza，美國）的政治上和種族上的矛盾就暗喻了美國於社會與政治上的失能。泰吉(Taji)在旅行最後聲稱自己是「我自己靈魂之帝王」，這暗示他尋求將自己從殖民論述所運用的包含失能的那些修辭策略解放出來。

關鍵字

梅爾維爾；瑪地；失能修辭；殖民論述；旅行敘事

並列摘要

Herman Melville's (1819-1891) Mardi (1849) posits itself as allegorical journey in exploring Western self and its relation to otherness. Critics have pointed out the impact of oversea travel writings on Melville, especially the accounts of the South Seas. Polynesia, for Melville, provides ”a great deal of rich poetical material.” However, it also offers an imperial frame of reference to investigate colonial discourse and its rhetorical strategies, especially the rhetoric of disability. This paper centers on how Melville in Mardi questions the rhetoric of disability in representing cultural others, thereby deconstructing the operation of colonial discourse. The disabled body attributed to cultural others may indicate the legitimacy of their being civilized or colonized. The narrator presents at both literal and figural levels the recurrent rhetoric of disability around the isles of Mardi. Some characters become voiceless, like Jarl, while others suffer from deformity, like Samoa’s amputation. Other characters like Pani in the isle of Maramma, nine blind men, or King Donjalolo are either physically or epistemologically ”blind.” The isle of Cripples (Hooloomooloo) further epitomizes the rhetoric of disability. But in Mardi, the rhetoric of disability can also be used against Western self. The political and racial oxymoron in the isle of Vivenza (the U.S.A.) metaphorizes the ”disability” of American self. In the end of his journey, Taji claims himself as ”my own soul's emperor.” He seeks to disentangle himself from those recurrent rhetorical designations (disability) deployed by colonial discourse. To put it in the historical context, Taji's final abdication attempts to subvert colonial rhetoric that may be used by American travelers to designate cultural others, especially when America had started its exploration of foreign states during the second half of the nineteenth century.