Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," the Silence of Literature, and the Modern Self

納撒尼爾．霍桑的〈牧師的黑面紗〉，文學中的沈默和現代自我

10.6153/2012.27.03

貝格泰(Hannes Bergthaller)

個人主義 ； 原罪 ； 浪漫主義 ； 社會系統理論 ； individualism ； original sin ； Romanticism ； social systems theory

NTU Studies in Language and Literature

27期（2012 / 06 / 01）

47 - 69

英文

納撒尼爾．霍桑的〈牧師的黑面紗〉曾被一些文學評論家解讀為一個關於語言意象化的故事，另外一些人則把霍桑的這個故事看作是他的歷史分析，認為霍桑用清教徒原罪的概念來解釋現代客體性的發展。這篇文章試圖將兩種解讀方式結合，論述這兩種概念起源於相同的社會轉型過程：如盧曼（Luhmann）社會系統理論所說的，我們對語意的關注及個體性概念的發展皆起源於「階級分化社會」轉型為「功能分化社會」的過程中。胡珀（Hooper）先生的面紗由此可視為霍桑的一種現代的文學形式，它能夠表達意識與溝通交流間不可跨越的鴻溝（即浪漫主義所關注的主題）。面紗一方面阻礙了相互間的交流，但另一方面，隔閡也可理解為一種溝通的形式。同樣的，文學的語言阻擾了一般生活用語間的溝通，但它並不因此中斷溝通交流，反倒示意了更深一層的意義。閱讀這樣的文學形式是去了解沈默也是溝通的方式。

Nathaniel Hawthorne's ”The Minister's Black Veil” has been read by some critics as a metapoietic tale about the symbolic process, by others as a historical inquiry into the genesis of modern subjectivity from the Puritan conception of original sin. This essay attempts to synthesize these interpretations, arguing that the rise of interest in the figural nature of language and modern conceptions of individuality are closely correlated effects of the transition from a stratified to a functionally differentiated society, as it is described by Luhmann's theory of social systems. Mr. Hooper's veil can be seen as standing for Hawthorne's conception of a modern form of literary art that would be able to express the indelible difference between consciousness and communication- a central theme of Romanticism. The veil both disrupts communication and ensures that this disruption is itself understood as a communicative act. Likewise, the language of literature disrupts ordinary language and ensures that this disruption does not terminate communication, but is instead received as a gesture towards a higher level of meaning. Learning to read such literature is to understand silence as communication.

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