“Superhistory” and the “Spirit of Transgression”:E. L. Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel

Abstract

The Book of Daniel, E. L. Doctorow’s first widely-acclaimed novel, is a fictional exploration of the controversial case of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg who were wrongfully executed for treason by the Truman Administration during the Red Menace of the 1950s. The novel demonstrates not only Doctorow’s strong aversion to social injustice---one of the themes that run through all his work---but also thenovelist’s successful experiment in fictionalizing a historical event. Historical actuality & imaginary episodes are deftly woven together into a literary construct. To Doctorow, official history is to a certain extent fictionalized, & fiction can be a “superhistory” in which a writer may amass available historical data, reconstruct them in an intricate configuration, & thus offer dialectical perspectives on sociopolitical realities. A writer, as it were, is a “perceptive criminal”---a criminal who opens himself to perception, is sensitive to the life of the downtrodden, & possesses “a spirit of transgression” to facilitate social change.

達特羅第一部廣受稱譽的小說《但以理書》是以文學想像的手法探究一九 五○年代，赤色恐慌時期，遭杜魯門政府入罪羅森堡夫婦的故事。這部小說展 現出貫穿達特羅所有作品的主題，亦即對社會不公不義的憎惡，以及作者成功 地運用小說手法改寫歷史的實驗。歷史的真實情境和想像的情節圓熟地交織於 這個文學創作中。 就達特羅而言，在某種程度，正史是虛構的，而小說可以是「超級歷史」， 藉此作者得以匯聚歷史文獻，重新形塑縝密的架構，並對社會政治現況提出辯 證的觀點。作家可以說是「睿智的罪犯」---開放接受各種相異觀點，關注受壓 迫者的生活，並且具有逾越的意識以促進社會變革。