現代反烏托邦文學：察米雅欽與艾特伍德(II-II)

Abstract

本計畫試圖探討加拿大女作家艾特伍德1985 年的作品《侍女故事》所呈現 的跨界努力。《侍女故事》向被稱為「女性主義的1984」，且評家多由反烏托邦 的觀點探討之。然則《侍女故事》實跨越了經典反烏托邦小說的傳統疆界。《1984》 與《美麗新世界》皆服膺寫實主義的寫作技巧，《侍女故事》則是一後設文本， 深具開放特質。其敘事架構透過說故事技巧的經營和框架的運用等，呈現不定性 和動態感。 由性別政治的角度觀之，《侍女故事》亦呈現跨界特質。由女性主義的角度 檢視之，《侍女故事》對於女性議題的探討確乎不容置疑。然則，艾特伍德對於 此類議題又刻意採行「反諷」、「曖昧」的敘事策略， 似乎刻意與各種女性主義 主張保持若即若離的關係。其作為一女性主義文本顯有許多弔詭之處。

This project attempts to investigate the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood’s feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) as an exercise at border crossing. Initially hailed as “a feminist 1984” and commonly examined from the perspective of dystopia, The Handmaid’s Tale in fact transgresses the boundary of traditional dystopia in various ways. While 1984 and Brave New World are marked by adherence to realism, The Handmaid’s Tale is an open-ended, metafictional text.. Its narrative structure is characterized by intricate manipulation of the techniques of story telling and framing, shattering any illusion of stasis. In terms of its gender politics, The Handmaid’s Tale also exemplifies border-crossing features in its deliberate attempt to be ambiguous, paradoxical, and ironic. The text, on the one hand, appears overtly “feminist” and probes into issues such as sexuality and power and female subjectivity. On the other hand, however, a careful examination of the work would thwart any outright assertion of its feminist stance and render ambivalent its allegedly feminist content. It would seem that, textually as well as ideologically, Atwood chooses rather to remain a threshold figure.