黑暗中的鬼魅: 科爾森‧懷特黑德小說中的非裔美國人主體位置與情動主體性

Abstract

本論文藉由閱讀科爾森‧懷特黑德小說，研究非裔美國人的主體位置，進而挖掘與理解懷氏小說中黑人主角的情動主體性。筆者引用凱斯琳‧史都華與布萊恩‧馬蘇米的論點，將情動描述為非理性、由歷史與文化之召喚與霸權所觸發的情緒反應。此外，情動不僅屬於個人，更能感染、傳遞給群體中的其他人。論文另將「主體性」描述為將個人與世界聯繫的獨特「觀點」或「世界感知」。主體性形成於個人與所處時空之意識型態與文化規範、價值和信仰的關係。「情動主體性」因此闡明了情動何以開展個人的「觀點」與「世界感知」。對底層群體而言，由於他們的能動性受到所處空間之理性規範所壓制，情動主體性對其而言更形重要。情動足以讓底層群體創造出某種主體性，賦予他們動力。此外，情動連結個人與世界及他人，這樣的連結也擴展個人的力量為群體的力量。筆者將情動主體性的概念帶入對懷特黑德的六部小說的討論。這六部小說為《約翰•亨利日》、《艾佩克斯止痛貼》、《薩格港》、《第一區》、《地下鐵道》和《黑男孩》。論文也關注這六部小說主角斡旋非裔美國身份的多元方式。筆者主張，在懷氏的小說裡，「黑人」的身份並非全然負面，也絕非完全為過去的歷史所定義。懷氏筆下的角色與空間、歷史和階級的關係充滿流動性，他們經歷變動的主體位置，時或擁有能動性。這樣的流動力量，很大程度來自於這些角色的情感反應：無論是抵抗或屈從於情感，情感反應創造特定的主體位置，強化或削弱角色們在美國空間中的能動性。

This dissertation proposes a study of African American subject positions in the novels of Colson Whitehead by seeking out and understanding the affective subjectivities of his black protagonists. Using ideas proposed by Kathleen Stewart and Brian Massumi, I delineate"affect" as an emotional response that appears to lack rationality but is triggered by interpellated and hegemonic culture and history; moreover, affects do not only exist in an individual but can be contagious and spread to others within a group. I delineate "subjectivity" as the unique "point of view" or "sense of the world" that links an individual to the world. Subjectivity is formed through one's relation to the ideological and cultural norms, values, and beliefs from the timespace one inhabits. Therefore"affective subjectivities" spell out how affect could foster one's "point of view" and "sense of the world." For subaltern groups, affective subjectivities are particularly important because the rationality of the spaces they occupy is actively attempting to quell their agency. Affects allow the subaltern the creation of a subjectivity that gives them the power to mobilise. Furthermore, affect relates one to the world and to others. This connection to other individuals who are also oppressed directs attention from an individual's force to a subaltern community's collective power. I apply these concepts to six of Colson Whitehead's novels: John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, Sag Harbor, Zone One, The Underground Railroad, and The Nickel Boys. I explore how Whitehead's varied protagonists negotiate with their African American identities in diverse ways. Instead of reading "black" as a historically determined subject position with negative connotations, I argue that in Whitehead's novels his black characters are mobile in relation to space, history, and class, and as such experience shifting subject positions and agency. The force of this mobility is largely derived from the feelings of Whitehead's characters, whereby either resisting or submitting to these feelings creates specific subject positions which, in turn, reduces or increases their agencies within American spaces.