從斷裂到再連結：論佟妮•莫莉森《爵士樂》中的遷徙、記憶與文化議題

From Rupture to Reconnection: Migration, Memory, and Culture in Toni Morrison's Jazz

廖莉雅(Li-Ya Liao)

《華梵人文學報》 4期 (2005/01) Pp. 113-160

https://doi.org/10.29930/HJH.200501.0004

摘要

佟妮•莫莉森的小說一向充滿對黑人歷史與文化的關注，而《爵士樂》呈現的正是作者對於20世紀初發生於美國本土內、涉及社會、歷史、和文化層面的黑人「大遷徙」事件所作的深切省思。雖然莫莉森將故事主軸的時間設在1926年，正值黑人文藝復興的全盛時期，小說裡卻鮮少提及此時黑人在藝術文化上的成就，反而轉爲刻畫一些爲了追求美好生活、不惜離鄉背井至北方大城哈林區的南方黑人的生活。透過對這些遷徙的南方黑人所遭遇精神與婚姻危機的描繪，莫莉森的小說旨在深入探究地理上的重新置位對於非裔美國人的生活所造成的衝擊。在小說中，莫莉森將「大遷徙」事件視爲非裔美國人歷史與文化上的「斷裂」點，藉由描寫小說人物的危機及其虛浮無根的都市生活，以意涵個人／種族重拾歷史和文化連結的必要性。因此，本論文將檢視小說人物的生活如何經歷斷裂到再連結的過程，並剖析記憶和口述傳統於此過程中所發揮的作用，從而探討莫莉森對美國黑人歷史與文化連結的觀點。

關鍵字

歷史連結 ； 文化連結 ； 遷徙 ； 記憶 ； 歷史再現 ； 口述傳統 ； 自我與社群

並列摘要

Jazz demonstrates Toni Morrison's meditations on the historical, social, and cultural event of the Great Migration in the United States during the early decades of the twentieth century. Set in the 1926, the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance, however, the narrative of Jazz seldom refers to blacks' artistic and cultural achievements of the time and instead focuses on the ordinary lives of its black characters, who migrate to Harlem in pursuit of better conditions. Through the depiction of the characters' spiritual and marital crises, Jazz probes into the impacts of this geographical relocation on African American lives. In the novel, Morrison portrays the Great Migration as a time of rupture and suggests the need of historical and cultural (re) connection for her black characters to resituate themselves in the North. Therefore, this thesis deals with the process from rupture to reconnection in the lives of the characters in Jazz and explores Morrison's use of memory and black oral traditions in the novel in an attempt to clarify the author's abiding concern with African American history and culture.

並列關鍵字

historical connection ； cultural connection ； migration ； memory ； representation of history ； oral tradition ； self and community

參考文獻

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Barnes, Deborah H,David L. Middleton (Ed.)(1997).Toni Morrison's Fiction: Contemporary Criticism.New York:Garland.

Berret, Anthony, J(1989).Toni Morrison's Literary Jazz.College Language Association Journal.32(3),267-283.