以記憶重溯／塑過往：《聲音與憤怒》及《樂園》中的性別、種族、與美國南方歷史

Abstract

本文將《聲音與憤怒》與《樂園》兩本小說並置於相同歷史背景中，以分別探討文本裡以北方觀點為中心的美國國族歷史、南方白人男性的歷史敘事、以及由非裔男性所建構的南方歷史，並進而批判性地檢視官方歷史之本質與建構過程，也一併探討性別與種族他者在兩部作品中的定位。《聲音與憤怒》及《樂園》皆以美國社會在歷史中的急遽變遷為背景，直接呈現或間接描繪了各式值得深究的歷史敘事──即便該論述背後之政治角力與權力拉鋸以不同的方式運作、並體現於不同層面上。本文由呂格爾（Paul Ricoeur）所談的「義務性記憶（obligated memory）」、皮埃爾．諾哈（Pierre Nora）所提出的「記憶場域（les lieux de memoire）」、以及傅柯（Michel Foucault）的「對抗記憶（counter-memory）」切入，旨在探究兩本小說中官方歷史的建構、運作、與瓦解。此外，本文也將一併討論南方歷史與性別／種族議題之間的連結。除了深究官方歷史敘事在性別與種族層面上的排他性之外，我也將細察邊緣角色在文本中對官方論述的潛在顛覆性。透過這些看似矛盾卻關鍵的人物定位，本文將進一步闡述官方歷史由內部崩解的可能性，並同時分析性別／種族他者在歷史建構與瓦解的過程中，所扮演之雙面角色、及其所具之曖昧性。

By juxtaposing William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929) and Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1997) in the same historical context, the thesis will respectively examine the North-centered national history of the U.S., the historical narrative of white male Southerners, and the southern history constructed by black men in the two novels--so as to critically scrutinize the problematic nature and the political construction of official histories, as well as how the gendered and racial Others are intriguingly positioned in these texts. Both set in a turbulent, historical transformation of the South, the two novels either portray or consist of problematic narratives on history--though the political struggles in these narratives are manifested on various levels and performed in different ways. Approaching the texts mainly with Paul Ricoeur’s idea of “obligated memory,” Pierre Nora’s notion of les lieux de memoire, and Michel Foucault’s conception of counter-memory, the thesis aims to explore the problematic construction, political operation, and inevitable breakdown of the official historical narratives in these novels. Moreover, the association between southern histories and gender/race issues will likewise be carefully discussed here. Besides looking into the gendered and racial exclusion of official histories, I will simultaneously investigate the marginalized characters’ paradoxical yet significant role as the potential counter-forces against such dominant discourses. By doing so, this thesis is going to further illustrate the very possibility of breaking up official histories from within, as well as the ambivalent role that the gendered and racial Others have played in both the construction and subversion of official discourses on southern histories.