底特律的邊陲空間　以歐慈的《他們》為例

The Marginalized Space of the Detroit Poor an Example of Joyce Carol Oates's them

紀元文(Yuan-Wen Chi)

《英美文學評論》 17期 (2010/12) Pp. 131-157

https://doi.org/10.6711/REAL.201012_(17).0005

摘要

在當代美國作家喬薏絲•歐慈(Joyce Carol Oates)早期的小說中，底特律是一個相當重要的場景；她以此爲背景所寫的作品《他們》(them, 1969)曾於1970年贏得美國國家書籍獎(the National Book Award)，確立了她在當代美國文壇的地位。早一年出版的《富貴人家》(Expensive People, 1968)以及其後的《大神母》(Cybele, 1979)也是以底特律及其附近的郊區爲主要場景：這些區域包括伯明罕(Birmingham)、布倫菲爾德山莊(Bloomfield Hills)與葛羅斯波因特(Grosse Pointe)等地，涵蓋不同階層與身分的族群生活之場域。這其間她亦出版以女性意識覺醒過程爲主體的《任憑處置》(Do with Me What You Will, 1973)。
本文特別以《他們》爲例，探討都市文本的意涵，因爲地理空間的烙印與軌跡直接或間接地銘刻於作家所創造、建構的文本空間與景觀之中。歐慈對底特律都會特質的摹繪，適足於反映作家對於現代都會空間的思考與認識的過程，實則這也是小說家形塑自我，趨向更成熟的文體／文本空間的歷練。而本書所再現的主要對象乃是中下階層的美國人，其所涵蓋的社會生活層面較廣，除了刻劃蠅營狗苟，卑微猥瑣的都市窮人的眾生相之外，同時並觸及中產階級的郊區文化。小說家如此的安排與鋪陳，乃是運用巴爾扎克式(Balzatian)的寫實手法，企圖對於底特律的城市意象作全景的觀看、凝視與再現。對照之下，《富貴人家》、《任憑處置》與《大神母》三書的主題較側重於中產階級安逸舒適、自滿侈汰的消費文化以及由此所衍生的婚姻危機、縱慾、背叛與敗德等郊區症候群。
就空間政治的意涵而言，以現代資本主義的意識形態爲首的美國主流社會在空間的配置與規劃上，隱藏排斥弱勢族裔活動空間的企圖。《他們》這本書所涵蓋的階級、種族、性別等範疇的論述，正可做爲檢證歐慈的都會空間再現的雛形。雖然弱勢族裔居住、行走於都市，他們並不被同化／吸納到都會的空間，只是被視爲「他者」(the Other)的存在，例如《他們》中的窮白人羅瑞塔(Loretta)、墨琳(Maureen)、朱禮(Jules)與非裔美國人。因此，主流文化即使以美國夢(the American Dream)、多元文化、多樣性等意識形態邏輯企圖普遍化這些概念所代表的主流價值觀，以掩飾美國內部社會、經濟、政治等層面的矛盾，弱勢族裔遭到打壓的事實，仍然昭然若揭。誠然「美國夢」此一意識形態所標榜與構築的白手成家，創業致富垂手可得的新迦南地(New Canaan)樂土，曾招徠各國移民競相奔赴新大陸，實則在歐洲移民的眼中「大熔爐」(the Melting-Pot)的概念所鎔鑄的新種族，貧窮白人與弱勢族裔人士的聲音是缺席的。

關鍵字

喬薏絲•歐慈 ； 他們 ； 底特律 ； 邊陲空間 ； 美國夢 ； 大熔爐

並列摘要

Detroit is an important geographical location in the early works of contemporary American writer Joyce Carol Oates. Set in this city, them (1969) established her repute and status as a serious writer, winning the National Book Award in 1970. Her subsequent novels, published in the '70s are also set in Detroit and its suburbs (Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Grosse Pointe), explore the lives of American people of differing social class and status.
The paper aims to probe the multiple implications of inscribing features of modern urban space in them, the side effects of modernity and its trajectories, including the slums, violence, crime, and so forth. Moreover, the urban space and text also serve as the loci proper giving shape to the novelist's representational style and her experience and perception of the outside world. On the one hand, the major concern of the discussion focuses on the lower-class Americans who, living at the sordid bottom of the slum, struggle for a modest survival such as Loretta, Maureen, and Jules and other ethnic minorities. On the other hand, the analysis also deals with the suburban culture of the middle class. By applying Balzatian realism in her depiction of the Detroit poor and her deployment of the urban text, Oates gazes at and contemplates on the panoramic pictures of the city image. In contrast, Expensive People (1968), Do with Me What You Will (1973) and Cybele (1979) emphasize the malaises of consumer culture, self-complacency of the bourgeoisie, and negative aspects of suburban life arisen therein.
So far as spatial politics and maneuvering are concerned, American society, oriented towards modern capitalism, has embedded within a hidden agenda to exclude the participation of minority ethnic groups in urban spaces and planning. The discourse of class, race, and gender covered in them provides us with an embryonic structure to examine spatial representation in Oates's works. Although African Americans live in the city, they are regarded as the Other, who are marginalized without fail. Even though the ideological logic represented by the mainstream American society appears in the guise of multiculturalism, it is undeniable that there are conflicts and contradictions in American social, economic, and political spheres. The ideals of the American Dream attract many immigrants seeking to pursue their happiness and felicities in the Melting-Pot of the New World, but the voices of the poor white and the ethnic minority are indeed absent.

並列關鍵字

Joyce Carol Oates ； them ； Detroit ； Marginalized Space ； the American Dream ； the Melting-Pot