"Dr. Fredric Wertham was an idiot": Reclaiming Batman and Robin in Michael Chabon's "Kavalier & Clay"

弗雷德里克•魏特漢醫生是白癡？論麥可•謝朋如何拯救蝙蝠俠與羅賓的聲譽

10.6153/2012.28.3

王惠茹(Huei-Ju Wang)

弗雷德里克‧魏特漢 ； 麥可‧謝朋 ； 蝙蝠俠 ； 小男孩搭檔 ； 秘密身份 ； 同性戀 ； 《卡瓦利與克雷的神奇冒險》 ； Fredric Wertham ； Michael Chabon ； Batman ； boy sidekick ； secret identity ； homosexuality ； "Kavalier & Clay"

NTU Studies in Language and Literature

28期（2012 / 12 / 01）

59 - 86

英文

精神病醫師弗雷德里克‧魏特漢在二十世紀四十年代末期提出漫畫書對兒童負面的影響，他的主張在一九五四年《誘惑無辜》一書中推向高潮。魏特漢一書強烈的控訴漫畫中暴力血腥的內容摧殘美國兒童讀者幼小的心靈。在書中，魏特漢還聲稱蝙蝠俠漫畫刺激同性戀的幻想，他認為蝙蝠俠與羅賓是同性戀人的關係。而此觀點影響了在五零年代末期和六零年代初期的蝙蝠俠漫畫，使蝙蝠俠和羅賓在漫畫中轉為明顯的異性戀者。本文探討麥可‧謝朋如何在他的超級英雄小說《卡瓦利與克雷的神奇冒險》中辯衛蝙蝠俠和羅賓是父子關係同時推翻魏特漢提出的觀點。本文著重於小說中男同性戀漫畫家山姆‧克雷，在他的漫畫中喜歡使用超級英雄和小男孩作為搭檔。受到魏特漢《誘惑無辜》一書中的影響，克雷畫下中英雄和男孩的搭檔配對在小說中成為美國參議院可福爾聽證會上調查漫畫和青少年犯罪率增加兩者之間因果關係的焦點。本文首先檢視謝朋的小說有助於提升超級英雄小說在文學上的價值。主要分析超級英雄漫畫和超級英雄小說中常出現英雄的秘密身份和以小男孩作為搭檔的概念，最後探討在小說中，謝朋反駁魏特漢的同性戀蝙蝠俠觀點以及如何捍衛蝙蝠俠和羅賓的父子關係。

In his 1954 anti-comics book ”Seduction of the Innocent”, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham alleged that Batman comics stimulate homosexual fantasies and that Batman and Robin are gay. This essay examines Michael Chabon's repudiation of Wertham's gay Batman reading in his superhero novel, ”The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” (2000). The reading is focused on the novel's gay protagonist Sam Clay and his perceived preference for adding the boy sidekick to the superhero in his comics career. This hero/sidekick paring becomes controversial in the Kefauver hearings, in which U.S. senators investigated the alleged link between crime comics and the increase of juvenile delinquency, in light of Wertham's gay reading as well as Clay's sexual orientation. In doing so, I first review Chabon's role in elevating the superhero genre in literary studies, Wertham's gay reading and its effect on the arc of the Batman comics in the late 1950s and early '60s. I then focus on the specter of Wertham in Chabon's text, analyzing Chabon's employment of superhero tropes of the boy sidekick and secret identity to invoke and repudiate Wertham's homosexual reading. Lastly, I examine how Chabon justifies his reading of the deep bond between Batman and Robin as one between a father and son by examining Clay's traumatic relationship with his father and the idea of partnership his father inspired in him, as well as his important male relationships.

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