Through the Mirror of Dharma: ＂The Sisters＂ and ＂The Dead＂ in Joyce's Dubliners

佛鏡之映照－《都柏林人》中的「姊妹們」和「亡者們」

許惠芬(Hui-fen Hsu)

Dharma ； Dubliners ； paralysis ； samsara ； epiphany ； 佛法 ； 《都柏林人》 ； 癱瘓 ； 輪迴 ； 頓悟

興大人文學報

59期（2017 / 09 / 01）

229 - 249

英文

James Joyce's Dubliners exposes the spiritual paralysis of Irish life in the early twentieth century. Exploring this confessional book about social pathology, critics easily sniff out the odor of corruption floating over the stories. Since its publication in 1914, there has been no lack of literary criticism about Joyce's modernist techniques and religious themes. In this study, Buddhist philosophy is appropriated as a theoretical framework to analyze two stories in Dubliners. Beginning with the death of a priest and ending with the imaginary death of all human beings, Dubliners highlights spiritual immobility, which in turn resonates with the chain of rebirth conveyed in Buddhist samsara. Coexisting with the sense of entrapment is the possibility of liberation. The acute observation of the mundane reality and the epiphany of human interconnectedness echo Zen attentiveness and interbeing. The contents of this paper are divided into two parts. The first part integrates the Irish paralysis into Buddhist samsara; the second part associates Joycean epiphany with spiritual liberation. While ＂The Sisters＂ exposes the suffering from a paralytic existence, ＂The Dead＂ offers the antidote to the suffering. As a looking glass, Dubliners reflects the universal predicament and potential of liberation elucidated in Dharma.

詹姆士喬伊斯的《都柏林人》，呈現20世紀初愛爾蘭人僵化的生活。這是對文化病態的告解之作，文評家能輕易地嗅出飄散於每篇故事中的腐敗氣息。自從1914年出版至今，不乏對喬伊斯作品之現代主義技巧及宗教主題的探討。本篇研究引用佛法作為理論框架，分析其中頭尾兩篇故事，「姊妹們」和「亡者們」。此兩篇故事所描繪的僵化世界，呼應佛法的中心思想－苦及解脫。《都柏林人》開始於神父之死，結束於眾生之死的想像。其中靈魂的停滯，扣緊佛法生死輪迴之繫縛，而解脫的可能性和此繋縛之苦共存。它存在於對日常瑣事的敏銳觀察及人群互相依存之頓悟，亦即禪理中的正念專注及互攝存在。本文內容分兩部分。第一部分將愛爾蘭的僵化文化導入佛法的生死輪迴。第二部分探討喬伊斯式的頓悟和解脫之關聯。「姊妹們」揭露繋縛僵化之苦，「亡者們」為此苦提供了解藥。《都柏林人》有如明鏡，反映佛法所探討的內涵，即世間共通之困境及解脫之道。

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