霍桑、拉岡與國族之物︰以父之名

Ha(w)thorne, Lacan and the N(a)tional Thing: In the Name of the Father

李信明(Shing-ming Lee)

指導教授 ： 蔡振興

淡江大學/外國語文學院/英文學系博士班/博士(2011年)

https://doi.org/10.6846/TKU.2011.01018

摘要

本論文試圖從霍桑將「w」字母加入於其姓氏中，論證此字母的功能如同拉崗所謂的小對體觀念，象徵的不僅是主體的位置，也明確標示出霍桑於美國文藝復興的文化(大它者)位置。因此，如何成為大它者空缺所需的專有名詞霍桑便成為霍桑身份認同最重要的大符指。於此命題，我將藉由拉崗的精神語言學重新檢驗繪製霍桑主體形塑過程中的議題。例如，烏托邦的社會想像，象徵的是美國現代性(資本化)過程中不可能的意識形態的想像愉悅，同時也明白指出烏托邦的只不過是縫補現代性(資本化)所產生的知識斷裂以及空缺，這解釋烏托邦實踐上的失敗原因，並不是資本主義所產生的異化而是烏托邦本質上就是一個(不可能)想像的誤視。在第二章節，在本文中，我想藉由誌異雄渾的美學觀點重新檢驗美國誌異小說家霍桑倫理道德中惡之華的必然性。於此，我將論證霍桑的美學呈現的不只是恐怖的超越顛峰經驗，而且更一進揭示出道德律法中的逾越死亡本能的快感；面對此一斷裂鴻溝，霍桑將先人之罪的矛盾情結昇華，並試圖縫製此一缺口。此一動作，一方面修補了道德律法的不完整性，另一方面藉由逾越後的良知譴責反而加深了律法的強度。因此，我將焦點放置於霍桑的《七角屋》，並藉由拉崗的精神倫理學，去印證霍桑的倫理道德中惡之華的必然性命題是建構於審視律法底層結構中逾越與快感的不可化約關係，並藉此補足了律法空缺並使其完整。再者，我將探討霍桑文化想像中的女性的位置。為了避開二元論述的意識形態或是批判，我整理出霍桑中的女性可歸納於三個面向:陽性女人(如紅字中的海絲特)、男人想像之物或是慾望的小對體(如歡樂谷中的戴著面紗的女子)以及象徵陽性語言斷裂的想像界限(如胡金生女士)。於第四章節，我將藉由《紅字》的表徵意義，重新繪製霍桑如何處理國族想像並自我身份。於結論中，我們獲得「w」字母如紅字，成為主體不可化約的部份。

關鍵字

霍桑 ； 紅字 ； 誌異 ； 雄渾 ； 先人之罪 ； 本惡 ； 快感 ； 事物 ； 小對體 ； 大它者 ； 大符指 ； 幻想 ； 空缺 ； 空白主體 ； 象徵界 ； 異化 ； 分離

並列摘要

This dissertation is in an attempt to read the trajectory of the proper name of Ha(w)thorne who is interpellated as a subject by the symbolic gesture of his adding letter “w” to his family name. In this light, this small object “w” can be treated as an index of the place where the master signifier for the I-subject will come about. The master signifier, according to Jacques Lacan, designates the “quilting point” that intervenes while rendering complete an infinite series of signifiers. It helps clarify the fact that the subject is constituted in response to the real lacking-being in the Other (incarnated in Society, Culture, and Nation). Following Lacan, I maintain that to access and reassess the “proper” place assigned for Ha(w)thorne calls for an infinite conversation with such extimate substance as the letter “w” that precedes and pre-exists prior to Ha(w)thorne as a subject. The institution of the master signifier not only constitutes the subject in the field of the Other but maps the location of (national) culture, the lost Thing of which can only be retrieved in the locus of the Other.
The introduction is centered on the heated debate between Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas on the “proper name,” from which the notion of master signifier is brought up. To compromise with the master signifier, an individual not only experiences the Althusserian interpellation but acknowledges his assigned place in the Other, which proffers a network of signifiers to actualize the subjective existence (“meaning”) in the Symbolic Order.
Chapter One deals with the twisted relation between the misrecognized act of Utopian Imaginary and American modernity. I contend that utopia comes into existence on the account of the “nostalgia for the vanishing present,” is actually a counterpart of (American) modernity itself. Utopia is an empirical example of the radical transformation of modernity as well as the epistemological rupture. Meanwhile, it refers to the impossible jouissance of modernity: that is, to enjoy oneself without an alienating substance. In this sense, I maintain that the breakdown of utopia and its praxis lies not in alienation or false consciousness but in the impossible condition of “total” enjoyment. The alienating and preponderant object of individual subjects, which constitutes the subjective fantasy, is the hindrance to “total” enjoyment. The failure of utopian imaginary as a line of flight from the grip of modernity is best seen in Zenobia’s “death.”
In Chapter Two, I utilize the Lacanian notion of the Thing to tackle the Hawthorne moral edifice, hinged upon the presumes evil as the dark necessity. According as the Thing reveals, we catch a glimpse of the sublime jouissance, an inherent transgression within the (moral) Law. It sheds light on the bar or self-split of the Law, the cross-bar of which is called the (evil) Thing (of Jouissance). In Chapter Three, I tackle the “Hawthorne and Woman” question from the perspective of Lacan’s logic of sexuation. To avoid the pitfalls of dualism or ideological critique of uneven representation of the sexual difference, I intend to re-address the signification of women characters in Hawthorne, whose existence is determined by the agency of the phallus. To write off the real-impossible sexual relationship, Hawthorne, as I will demonstrate, resorts to the convention of courtly love in which the empirical woman is elevated to the dignity of the (Woman-)Thing. In this sense, Woman (as a Non-Whole) marks the limit of male fantasy (epistemology) from which the male characters derive their phallic jouissance. Chapter Four is aimed at the agency of the scarlet letter “A,” which, with its sublime process, marks the lost “Thing” of the imagined community. The letter “A” designates the lack in the big Other, which requires the master signifier to intervene and actualize its potential meaning. On the other, only with the letter “A” can we articulate the archaic in the locus of the Other in a retroactive act of narration.

並列關鍵字

gothic sublime ； sins of the fathers ； radical evil ； jouissance ； the Thing ； objet petit a ； the big Other ； the master signifier ； fantasy ； lack ； empty subject ； the Symbolic Order ； alienation ； separation

參考文獻

Colacurcio, Michael J. Province of Piety. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1995.

Levinas, Immanuel. Proper Names. Trans. Michael B. Smith. London: Athlone P, 1996

Robert S. Friedman. Hawthorne's Romances: Social Drama and the Metaphor of

Auerbach, Jonathan. The Romance of Failure: First-Person Fictions of Poe. New York: Oxford UP, 1989.

Anderson, Douglas. "The Blithedale Romance and Post-Heroic Life."