國族想像與戀物癖：約瑟夫•康拉德《諾思多謀》中的政經論述

National Imagination and Fetishism: Political Economy in Joseph Conrad's Nostromo

王俊三(Chun-San Wang)

《Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences》 4卷1期 (2009/03) Pp. 50-74

https://doi.org/10.6413/AJMHS.200903.0050

摘要

康拉德(Joseph Conrad)的《諾思多謀》(Nostromo)一書同時展現出十九世紀歐美資本帝國主義的超驗理想主義色彩與其剝削、掠奪的殘暴本質，而本文的重點則在闡述這兩種特質如何具體呈現在書中的國族想像與戀物論述中。在《諾思多謀》裡，聖多美(San Tomé)銀礦所代表的資本主義戀物邏輯成為所有政經論述的起點與終點。它開啟書中人物的慾望、規範其流動、變形、與偽裝的方式；同時，透過替置與换（幻）喻的修辭手法，它將慾望轉換成恐懼與癡迷、不足與過剩、物質與精神間永無止境的辯證；如此，本書不僅呈現出主體在邊區游離的經驗，它亦重新界定主體即是邊界本身。同樣的，國族想像在本書中亦依循戀物的法則，在换喻的衍異(différance)空間裡播散、並自我解構：它以頓呼法(apostrophe)或類似召魂的方式召喚出虛構的族性，藉助被投注在（無法被重建的）過去或（不可知的）未來的想像共同體來統整諸種相互矛盾的政經論述，並藉此遮掩社會衝突的現實。但就其內在結構而論，國族主義並非是一個完整、足以獨立運作的概念，而是一個可被階級、種族等要素替置、轉喻的漂動意符(the floating signifier)：在《諾思多謀》裡，它可以同時為宰制與被宰制階級挪用，或被轉換成合理化內在種族歧視的藉口、或變成恐外或媚外情意結的表徵；它亦可能被轉換成資本主義、現代化、或階級革命、民粹主義等諸種相互衝突論述的基礎。

關鍵字

約瑟夫‧康拉德 ； 諾思多謀 ； 戀物癖 ； 意識形態幻設 ； 國族主義 ； 自殺 ； 倫理行為 ； 渾雄體 ； 小物件

並列摘要

This article investigates discourse on nationalism and fetishism in Joseph Conrad's Nostromo. Drawing on theories and concepts about nation and fetishism from Marx, Freud, Žižek, Balibar and Chatterjee, among others, it aims to reveal and to critique the ruthless exploitation and domination in late 19(superscript th)-century capitalism that is masked by transcendental idealism, the ideology of modernity, and the fetishist logic of equal exchange on a worldwide scale. By treating the San Tomé Mine in the novel as a totalizing force which generates and disseminates discourse on political economy and in which the libidinal drives of the main characters are invested, this article attempts to integrate the apparently disparate fields of the politics of national imagination and the psychoanalysis of individuals'z desires. Discussion is focused on the following: 1) the fetishist logic generated by the Mine produces the protean desires of the main characters in the novel and regulates their dissemination, displacement, and transformation; 2) the nation in the novel is not an autonomous and metaphysical-substantialist concept but a floating signifier subjected to partial displacement by other concepts like race and class; 3) national independence cannot be achieved in a country like Sulaco since the scenario both for its postcolonial independence and for the inevitable failure of this project has been furnished by Western core countries; history has never occurred in Costaguana except in the form of endless repetition and self-parody.

並列關鍵字

Joseph Conrad ； Nostromo ； fetishism ； ideological fantasy ； nationalism ； suicide ； the act ； the sublime object