Mental Nations: The Identity of Meaning in Iain Sinclair's Lights out for the Territory

國家身分(nationhood)的概念有賴同盟、權力與時代三者的協議。又，依據班納迪克．安德森的說法，這些勢力曾交匯於三處核心，分別是：(一)提供真相的語言及文字；(二)君主或祭司，這些人與尋常人／平民百姓不同，他們和神靈有關，是人民效忠的核心對象；(三)全盛時期的歷史或信仰，它提醒人民有著共同的起源。這些中心對於形成和發展國家意識和國家身分十分有用，然而因時推移，卻逐漸顯得不確定。強調「真實的」本國文化，指認神聖領土及與其相關的特定族群，皆能維繫一個社群的團結，或如吾人所料地，引發競爭與衝突。本文將探討自由與獨立個體的籲求如何影響現代國家身分的概念；透過檢視情境論擁戴者伊安‧辛克萊對於國家認同的處置，並試圖指出在尋求受到象徵主義及個人的重要性影響的身分認同過程中國家依然是核心觀念，而新近構築的世界不過是由「心理的」國家組成的。

關鍵字

精神地理學；想像共同體；民族認同；獨立個體；情境論；全球化

並列摘要

The concept of nationhood is heavily reliant on the understanding of fraternity, power and time. And, according to Benedict Anderson, there used to be three centers on which the forces could converge: the script or language that offered the truth; the priest or monarch, figures related to the divine who were different from other human beings, around which loyalties could be centralized; and a history or belief in a golden age, which reminded the people of a common beginning. These centers were very useful in the formation and development of national awareness and nationhood, but with time they have proved to be challengeable. The reinforcing of an ”authentic” vernacular culture, identifying a sacred territory and a particular community to associate with it, can bind a community together or, unsurprisingly, bring them into competition and conflict. This paper looks at how calls of freedom and individuality have affected modern concepts of nationhood; it looks at the treatment of national identity by the Situationist advocate Iain Sinclair, and attempts to show that in searching for identities imbued with symbolism and personal significance, the nation remains a central idea and the new world that is formed simply consists of ”mental” nations.