Exile and Home Again: Postwar Fiction of the American South

放逐與返家：美國南方的戰後小說

Jeffrey J. Folks

《Tamkang Review》 38卷1期 (2007/12) Pp. 71-86

https://doi.org/10.6184/TKR.200712_38(1).0003

摘要

華倫(Robert Penn Warren)的小說顯露出認同南方與從南方放逐之間的張力狀態，這一點或許華倫本人也未必充分察覺。這種疏遠與回歸之間的張力狀態在最近一代－梅森(Bobbie AnnMason)，艾玖頓(Clyde Edgerton)，麥考克(Jill McCorkle)，杜柏斯(Andre Dubus)，胡德(Mary Hood)－的作品中似乎已消失殆盡，但是最近有關「藍」州與「紅」州之區分的問題證實了地域間的相互依屬。本文將焦點放在晚近三位南方作家－史岱倫(William Styron)，福特(Richard Ford)，及梅森－身上，並主張戰後一代的南方作家以摒棄傳統地域認同的方式來堅持他們的認同，然而這種摒棄未必能反映持續存在於美國社會的傳統地域區分。向華倫一樣，戰後南方作家，不管願意與否，仍繼續以陷於放逐與家園的極端中的孤寂藝術家的姿態寫作。

關鍵字

南方小說 ； 美國地域主義 ； 戰後南方小說 ； 後現代南方小說 ； 越南小說 ； 當代美國地域政治

並列摘要

Robert Penn Warren's fiction reveals the tension, perhaps not fully apparent even to Warren himself, between an identification with and sense of exile from the South. It may seem that this tension between alienation and return has been dispelled in the writing of the most recent generation, that of Bobbie Ann Mason, Clyde Edgerton, Jill McCorkle, Andre Dubus, and Mary Hood, yet recent divisions between ”red” and ”blue” states would seem to attest to enduring regional affiliations. Focusing on three recent southern writers-William Styron, Richard Ford, and Bobbie Ann Mason-this paper argues that the postwar generation of southern writers assert their identity by way of their rejection of traditional regional identity, yet this rejection may not reflect the historical regional divisions that continue to exist in American society. Like Robert Penn Warren, postwar southern writers, whether they wish to do so or not, continue to write from the posture of the ”loneliness” artist trapped between the extremes of exile and home.

並列關鍵字

southern fiction ； American regionalism ； postwar southern fiction ； postmodern southern fiction ； Vietnam fiction ； contemporary American regional politics

參考文獻

Ford, Richard(1995).Independence Day.New York:Vintage.

Humphries, Jefferson,Jefferson Humphries (Ed.),John Lowe(1996).The Future of Southern Letters.New York:Oxford UP.

Mason, Bobbie Ann(1985).In Country.New York:Harper.

Mason, Bobbie Ann(1982).Shiloh and Other Stories.New York:Harper.

O`Connor, Flannery(1988).Collected Works.New York:Library of America.