迪立羅的感官書寫　《墜落人》之探討

Sensuous Writing in Don DeLillo's Falling Man

張期敏(Chi-Min Chang)

《英美文學評論》 17期 (2010/12) Pp. 31-62

https://doi.org/10.6711/REAL.201012_(17).0002

摘要

論文主要探討唐•迪立羅(Don DeLillo)在《墜落人》(Falling Man)一書中，以身體感知爲書寫主軸，企圖呈現另類的書寫策略，及他對當代生活的觀察。迪立羅以極具震撼的九一一事件爲背景，以身體爲關鍵切入，開展另一個當代書寫的途徑，和審視生活的角度。論文將以梅洛龐帝(Maurice Merleau-Ponty)《覺知現象學》(Phenomenology of Perception)中感受(perception)的概念和李歐塔(Jean François Lyotard)的被動感知(affectability)爲理論的主軸，分成兩個部份。第一部分是透過感受的概念，說明自我和事件之間複雜的聯結和互動關係。此概念，可從迪立羅描寫書中人物在九一一事件後，經由身體的感受及反應，重新檢視自我、他人甚至家庭的關係得知。第二部份深入研究的是被動的感知，指的是當身體覺知被感受淹沒，產生的語言斷裂，也就是語言的瓦解－訊息的不可理解及不可呈現性。這兩種感知的區別在於，前者談的是身體雖然超越先前預定或假設好的概念，但所發出的訊息卻可被整合到認知的脈絡中，且同時延伸、擴張或修正我們原有的理解型態和範疇。後者卻阻斷理解的可能，顯現的是語言上的匱乏和瓦解，但也吊詭地成爲溝通上的一種昇華、自我的更新和不同書寫疆域的拓展。
迪立羅在《墜落人》中，藉由九一一的恐怖攻擊事件的書寫，展現了另一種寫作的可能和生命認知。迪立羅沒有落入完全以語言爲主的後現代思維，而是將此一事件所帶來的衝擊當作他寫作的另一個起始點。這樣的書寫沒有預設任何的概念或論述－除了真實的恐怖攻擊，因而整個故事都籠罩著一種不確定和不安的氛圍。事件所引發的這些身體感受和覺知，不再能套入舊有的認知模式中，而是以一種超乎理解的方式出現，不斷地透過身體感知更新甚至翻轉。重要的是，迪立羅在《墜落人》中，以九一一事件爲背景，以身體爲書寫的主軸，所要呈現的已不再是一個歷史樣貌的回溯或還原，而是事件背後，身體覺知所提供的書寫可能及對生命的另類檢視。

關鍵字

迪立羅 ； 墜落人 ； 身體 ； 書寫 ； 梅洛龐帝 ； 李歐塔

並列摘要

The paper aims to explore how DeLillo pivots his writing of Falling Man on the body and presents a different writing strategy and his distinct observation of contemporary life. Based on the calamitous and astounding 911 event, he takes the body as the point of departure, exploring the domain of sensuous writing and an alternative angle to examine contemporary life marked by insecurity, uncertainty, and nullifying ambience.
The paper, theoretically revolving around the axes of Merleau-Ponty's perception and Lyotard's idea of affectability, is divided into two parts. The first part is to apply the concept of perception to illustrate the intriguing connection and interaction between the self and the event. The idea is exemplified by how the characters reexamined the self, the other, and even the family relationship by means of their perception or corporeal responses in the wake of the 911. The second part is meant to probe into the affectability which gave rise to the rupture of language when the corporeal awareness had been overwhelmed by what was perceived. However, a significant difference exists between these two kinds of sensuous awareness. The former delineates the one, though going beyond the presupposed or hypothesized ideas, could still be incorporated into the pattern of cognition. The latter blocks the possibility of comprehension. It paradoxically emerges as a conspicuous inadequacy or breakdown of language but is marked by a sublimity of communication, self-renewal, and new writing territory.
By focusing on the 911 event in Falling Man, DeLillo demonstrates different possibilities of writing and life recognition. He did not lapse into the postmodern writing centered on the endless deferral of signification or the perpetual void of language but took the sensuous impact caused by the event as the starting point. Significantly, the sensuous perception and affectability could not be set into any existent pattern of understanding but loomed either unexpectedly or incomprehensibly, challenging and even thwarting the attempt of regulation or understanding. Hence, what DeLillo means to present in Falling Man is not a historical retrieval or factual re-presentation but different writing possibilities and a distinct angle to examine contemporary life.

並列關鍵字

DeLillo ； Falling Man ； body ； writing ； Merleau-Ponty ； Lyotard