In the Face of Modernization: Gothic Antiquarianism in Patrick McCabe's 〞The Butcher Boy〞

現代化當前：派屈克．馬克白《屠夫男孩》中的志異尚古主義

10.6153/NTUSLL.2014.31.06

吳彥祺(Yen-Chi Wu)

現代化 ； 志異尚古主義 ； 愛爾蘭國族主義 ； 修正主義 ； 派屈克．馬克白 ； 《屠夫男孩》 ； modernization ； Gothic antiquarianism ； Irish nationalism ； revisionism ； Patrick McCabe ； 〞The Butcher Boy〞

NTU Studies in Language and Literature

31期（2014 / 06 / 01）

151 - 174

英文

愛爾蘭在1960年代經歷一場劇烈的國族氛圍轉變，從保守的國族主義邁向現代化以及隨之而起的反國族修正主義。派屈克．馬克白的《屠夫男孩》書寫於1990年代，正是愛爾蘭經歷凱爾特之虎經濟奇蹟的時候；小說的背景則設在1960年代的轉型期。因此《屠夫男孩》可視為馬克白在快速現代化的1990年代回顧1960年代愛爾蘭經濟現代化的開端、並藉此重新審視逐漸衰微的國族主義以及邁向現代化所伴隨的陣痛。評論家經常將小說對於愛爾蘭國族主義的批判歸類為修正主義的思維。然而，這種修正主義的詮釋方式卻無法完整解釋小說對於愛爾蘭現代化的矛盾情緒。本篇論文試圖以小說的志異傳統來進一步挑戰並彌補過於簡化的修正主義閱讀策略。藉由凸顯「志異尚古主義」的概念，本篇論文主張，雖然《屠夫男孩》對於保守的國族主義多所批判，但是它同時對於愛爾蘭大步現代化所帶來的恐怖敲下一記警鐘。

Ireland in the 1960s underwent a pivotal transformation of national ethos, from conservative nationalism to modernization which coincided with anti-nationalist revisionism. Written in the early 1990s when Ireland enjoyed its Celtic Tiger economic miracle, Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy looks back at this transitional period to re-assess the waning nationalism and to investigate the throes concomitant with the onset of modernization. The novel's critique of Irish nationalism has often been aligned with the revisionist attempt to debunk the nationalist meta-narrative. This revisionist reading of the novel, however, fails to account for the novel's ambivalence toward Ireland's modernizing project. This essay, drawing from the novel's Gothic influence, intends to complicate and supplement the often simplistic revisionist approach to the novel. Foregrounding the concept of Gothic antiquarianism, this essay argues that while The Butcher Boy is critical of conservative nationalism, it also sounds a cautious note to Ireland's relentless modernization which registers a peculiar horror.

1. “Beautiful Bundoran.” YouTube. 13 April 2011 .
2. O'Mahony, John. “King of Bog Gothic.” The Guardian. 30 August 2003 .
3. O'Connor, Sinéad, perf. “The Butcher Boy.” The Butcher Boy: Motion Picture Soundtrack. Com. Elliot Goldenthal. Edel America, 1998.
4. “I Dreamt That I Dwelt in Marble Halls.” Music in the Works of James Joyce. 10 April 2011 .
5. “Adam Eterno.” 29 December 2013 .
6. Baldick, Chris,Mighall, Robert(2000).Gothic Criticism..A Companion to the Gothic,Oxford:
7. Bloom, Clive(2010).Gothic Histories: The Taste of Terror, 1764 to the Present.New York:Continuum.
8. Botting, Fred(2000).In Gothic Darkly: Heterotopia, History, Culture.A Companion to the Gothic,Oxford:
9. Botting, Fred(1996).Gothic.London:Routledge.
10. Brady, Ciaran(ed.)(1994).Interpreting Irish History: The Debate of Historical Revisionism.Dublin:Irish Academic Press.
11. Brown, Terence(1985).Ireland: A Social and Cultural History, 1922 to the Present.Ithaca:Cornell UP.
12. Coulter, Colin(ed.),Coleman, Steve(ed.)(2003).The End of Irish History? Critical Reflections on Celtic Tiger.Manchester:Manchester UP.
13. Ellis, Markman(2000).The History of Gothic Fiction.Edinburgh:Edinburgh UP.
14. FitzSimon, Christopher(1998).St Macartan, Minnie the Minx and Mondo Movies: Elliptical Peregrinations Through the Subconscious of a Monaghan Writer Traumatised by Cows and the Brilliance of James Joyce.Irish University Review,28(1),175-89.
15. Gauthier, Tim(2003).Identity, Self-Loathing and the Neocolonial Condition in PatrickMcCabe's The Butcher Boy.Critique,44,196-211.
16. Girvin, Brian(2013).The Origins of Contemporary Ireland: New Perspective on the Recent Past.Irish Historical Studies,38(151),385-88.
17. Harte, Liam(Ed.),Parker, Michael(Ed.)(2000).Contemporary Irish Fiction: Themes, Tropes, Theories.London:Macmillan.
18. Kelly, Aaron(2008).Twentieth-Century Irish Literature: A Reader's Guide to Essential Criticism.New York:Palgrave Macmillan.
19. Kiberd, Declan(2005).The Irish Writer and the World.Cambridge:Cambridge UP.
20. McCabe, Patrick(1992).The Butcher Boy.New York:Delta.
21. McCarthy, Conor(2000).Modernisation: Crisis and Culture in Ireland, 1969-1992.Dublin:Four Courts.
22. McWilliams, Ellen(2010).Madness and Mother Ireland in the Fiction of Patrick McCabe.Irish Studies Review,18(4),391-400.
23. O'Shea, Helen(2008).The Making of Irish Traditional Music.Cork:Cork UP.
24. Punter, David(ed.)(2000).A Companion to the Gothic.Oxford:Blackwell.
25. Schultz, Matthew(2011).'Give it Welcome': Gothic Inheritance and the Troubles in Contemporary Irish Fiction.The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies,10
26. Shaffer, Brian W.(2006).Reading Novel in English 1950-2000.Oxford:Blackwell.