再現美國黑奴歷史: 福克納《下去吧，摩西》和摩里森《寵兒》中的記憶與種族主義
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2013
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本文旨在探討福克納《下去吧，摩西》與摩里森《寵兒》中美國黑奴歷史之再現。筆者將兩部作品並置閱讀，並檢視兩位作家「再現美國黑奴歷史」之異同。經由互文比較，兩本小說揭示了奴隸制度與種族主義下的殖民生活，遺留下美國南方的核心問題。為探索奴隸制度帶來的種族問題，筆者試圖以再現美國黑奴歷史、記憶及種族主義為主題，分三章討論。第一章探索兩位作家再現美國黑奴歷史的方式，並比較福克納與摩里森對歷史描述的關注，並以此為根源對十九世紀美國黑奴歷史文本再現之相異處。第二章著眼於記憶與論述之主題。筆者欲檢視遍及於兩部作品中的記憶所扮演之角色與作用，及兩位作家對記憶於「再現美國黑奴歷史」之題材與論述技巧上的運用。第三章討論種族關係與種族歧視。福克納對麥卡斯林家族史之再現，強調在白人父權文化下分歧的黑白種族關係。兩種文本皆反映出種族差異，白人至上和霸權的種族主義心態，作為一種普遍深植於南方的種族意識型態。然而，摩里森的人文關懷打破這些長久以來，歷史上對黑人剝削及壓迫合法化的種族主義思想和假設。
透過諸多主角的回憶做為一種特殊論述，兩部作品重溯在「中間航程」和美國南方殖民生活下被刻意遺忘的奴隸經驗，並藉此審視令人不安的種族議題。也就是說，這兩部小說同時作為南方歷史的記錄以及作為與奴隸制度和種族主義的邪惡和其後果對抗之歷史著作。
This thesis aims at exploring the representation of African American slave history in William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. My comparative reading of these two texts seeks to examine the similarities and discrepancies between the two writers’ representations of African American slave history. Through intertextual comparison, both novels dramatize the central problems of plantation life under slavery in the American South, including the legacy of racism. Here I try to compare and explore the themes of representing African American slave history, memory and racism in the three main chapters respectively. Chapter One centers on both writers’ representations of African American slave history, and compares their preoccupation with the historical accounts as a crucial source for fictional representation of 19th-century African American slave history. Chapter Two focuses on the themes of memory and narrative. I would like to examine the pervasive influence of memory, the role memory plays and its effects, and also both writers’ manipulations of memory as the subject matter and as a narrative aesthetic that wraps up the whole novel. In Chapter Three I try to discuss the racial relations and racism in both texts. Faulkner’s representation of the McCaslin family history foregrounds the notion of race and racism with dichotomous white-black racial division in the white patriarchal society. Both texts reflect racial difference and white supremacy and domination over the black based on the white’s racist mindset, a pervasive ideology imprinted in the South. Morrison out of human concern unflinchingly undermines the racial ideology and assumptions that have historically legitimated the exploitation and oppression of the black people. Through memory of fictional characters as a specific form of narration, both novels restore the disremembered slave experience during the Middle Passage and on the plantation in Southern culture, thereby interrogating the disturbing racial subjects. That is, the two novels serve as a record of Southern history and a confrontation with the evils and consequences of slavery and racism in the Deep South.
This thesis aims at exploring the representation of African American slave history in William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. My comparative reading of these two texts seeks to examine the similarities and discrepancies between the two writers’ representations of African American slave history. Through intertextual comparison, both novels dramatize the central problems of plantation life under slavery in the American South, including the legacy of racism. Here I try to compare and explore the themes of representing African American slave history, memory and racism in the three main chapters respectively. Chapter One centers on both writers’ representations of African American slave history, and compares their preoccupation with the historical accounts as a crucial source for fictional representation of 19th-century African American slave history. Chapter Two focuses on the themes of memory and narrative. I would like to examine the pervasive influence of memory, the role memory plays and its effects, and also both writers’ manipulations of memory as the subject matter and as a narrative aesthetic that wraps up the whole novel. In Chapter Three I try to discuss the racial relations and racism in both texts. Faulkner’s representation of the McCaslin family history foregrounds the notion of race and racism with dichotomous white-black racial division in the white patriarchal society. Both texts reflect racial difference and white supremacy and domination over the black based on the white’s racist mindset, a pervasive ideology imprinted in the South. Morrison out of human concern unflinchingly undermines the racial ideology and assumptions that have historically legitimated the exploitation and oppression of the black people. Through memory of fictional characters as a specific form of narration, both novels restore the disremembered slave experience during the Middle Passage and on the plantation in Southern culture, thereby interrogating the disturbing racial subjects. That is, the two novels serve as a record of Southern history and a confrontation with the evils and consequences of slavery and racism in the Deep South.
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《下去吧, 摩西》, 《寵兒》, 美國黑奴歷史, 記憶, 種族主義, Go Down, Moses, Beloved, African American slave history, memory, racism