互動性和跨身體性－鮑爾斯《獲利》的政治生態學

Interobjectivity and Transcorporeality-Political Ecology in Richard Powers’s Gain

10.6637/CWLQ.2017.46(3).83-111

蔡振興(Robin Chen-Hsing Tsai)

鮑爾斯 ； 《獲利》 ； 跨身體性 ； 互物性 ； 拉圖爾 ； 政治生態學 ； 毒物論述 ； Richard Powers ； Gain ； transcorporeality ； interobjectivity ； Bruno Latour ； political ecology ； object theory

中外文學

46卷3期（2017 / 09 / 30）

83 - 111

繁體中文

美國小說家鮑爾斯（Richard Powers）在《獲利》（Gain）一書追溯萊斯伍（Lacewood）這個小鎮的崛起，而且小說也透過「遠近透視法」對蘿菈（Laura Brodey）在花園工作、家庭以及離不開克萊兒國際公司（ClareInternational）的「田園」生活作深描，直到蘿菈罹癌，田園生活嘎然而止。小說發展分為兩條主線：一是克萊兒國際公司如何在這個小鎮發跡以及該公司在開發的過程中有汙染環境的案例發生，另一是蘿菈的日常生活和物件之間的關係。從法國社會學家拉圖爾（Bruno Latour）的角度來看，鮑爾斯的小說提出一個重要的問題：我們從未「叩問物件」所扮演的角色為何？對拉圖爾而言，行動者或行動體（actors/actants）和環境之間的關係並非兩條平行線，毫無相交或重疊之處；原先被視為「理所當然」（matter of fact）其實是關心重點（matter of concern）和照顧重點（matter of care）。本文嘗試結合拉圖爾的物件理論和阿萊茉（Stacy Alaimo）的「跨身體性」（transcorporeality）來檢視克萊兒國際公司、蘿菈和毒物三者是如何形成「互物性」（interobjectivity）。透過拉圖爾的政治生態學，本文重審鮑爾斯小說筆下的資本主義所製造的毒物是如何透過「慢性暴力」的方式，悄然侵入身體和環境中。

In Richard Powers's Gain, the small town of Lacewood abruptly rises up as a matter of course; the author uses a far-and-near perspective to sketch the rural life of Laura Brodey working in her garden, her home and as well the ever present ＂garden＂ of Clare International up until the point that Laura suddenly contracts cancer. The narrative develops along two important lines: one is the rise of Claire and in the process of development one case of environmental pollution that happens; the second is the relationship between the daily life of Laura and the objects she comes in contact with. For this study, the main issue of the story is ＂What role do the objects we have never inquired into play?＂ Latour holds that the actors/actants and the environment are not two parallel lines. He also says that what originally was considered ＂a matter of fact＂ is actually a ＂matter of concern＂ and then a ＂matter of care.＂ This paper combines Latour's object theory and Stacy Alaimo's theory of transcorporeality so that the reader can reread Powers's novel and the implications of the toxicants produced by capitalism that utilizes slow violence to cunningly invade the body and the environment.

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