Representations of the Self/Other, Truths/Facts, and the Audience in Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia

張嘉怡(Chia-Yi Chang)

the self/other ； the audience ； solo performance of autobiography ； truths/facts ； ethics

小說與戲劇

19卷2期（2009 / 10 / 01）

59 - 90

英文

This paper aims to question the assumption that the autobiographical solo performance, as it is constructed from the life story of the performer, is selfindulgent and egoistic. Autobiographical solo performers, I argue, render their performances through an active route that communicates not only with their surroundings and people around them, but also with their audience. That is to say, the autobiographical solo performance can be political and theatrical through use of monologue, a narrative device that most solo performers utilize. I shall explicate the acts of: (a) Speaking One's Self, (b) Engaging the Others, (c) Engaging the (Historical) Truths/Facts, and (d) Engaging the Audience, using the example of Spalding Gray's most explicit monologue, Swimming to Cambodia (1985). The goal of this paper, as will become clear later, is to examine the autobiographical solo performance by looking at what is represented and the mechanisms beneath those representations, rather than focusing on how/why performers are selfindulgent, egoistic, narcissistic and don't express their concerns for the world.

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