Walking in a Dystopian World: Violence and Body in Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower

行走於反烏托邦的世界之中：奧特維亞‧巴特勒《灑種者的寓言》中的暴力與身體

楊乃女(Nai-Nu Yang)

反烏托邦 ； 暴力 ； 資本主義社會 ； 移動的身體 ； 體感經驗 ； dystopia ； violence ； capitalist society ； moving body ； kinesthetic experience

小說與戲劇

21卷2期（2012 / 04 / 01）

63 - 92

英文

奧特維亞‧巴特勒的小說《灑種者的寓言》常因其晦暗與絕望的氛圍而被閱讀為反烏托邦小說。巴特勒於故事中描述極端的貧富差距以及勞動階級與窮人被邊緣化的現象，她所傳遞反資本主義社會的訊息是無庸置疑的。雖然暴力事件幾乎主宰了整個故事內容，巴特勒的目的為批判資本主義導致窮人的困境以及未來可能發生更可怕的窮人悲劇。本文中的暴力指的是紀捷克（Slavoj Žižek）所言之系統性的暴力。巴特勒故事中的暴力即是資本主義機制造成的系統性暴力。資本主義暴力橫掃所有不能或拒絕其機制規範的身體，將其遺棄在黑暗世界之中。故事中的女主人翁羅倫生長於一個有牆保護的小社區，但是時時面臨牆外暴民世界的威脅。社區崩毀之後，她失去了家人和朋友，被迫在暴民的世界流浪，試圖尋找能讓她安身立命之處。本文認為，巴特勒刻意採取即身性的敘事策略，亦即藉由女主人翁的身體經驗呈現反烏托邦世界之面貌。行走於暴力世界之中，羅倫移動的身體體驗了暴力的狂歡。這場暴力的洗禮讓羅倫得以產生新的體感經驗，更進一步產生能動性建構其新的主體性。暴力翻轉出她的烏托邦夢想，也就是建立一個根據她創立的宗教思想―大地的種子―的理想社區。這部小說的反烏托邦氛圍事實上指向了一個庫馬（Krishan Kumar）所言「另類及更好的生活方式」。

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower is often read as a dystopian story overwhelmed by bleakness and despair. It is unquestionable that Butler intends to give us a warning against capitalist society which tends to enlarge the schisms between the rich and the poor with the irreparable consequence of extreme marginalization of the working class and the poor in the near future. While violent events dominate the story, Butler aims to criticize the harmful conditions of the poor that capitalist society has caused and will cause in the future. The violence here refers to the systemic violence, in Slavoj Žižek's term, caused by the capitalist mechanism. The capitalist violence sweeps those whose bodies resist capitalism or can not be regulated by capitalism, abandoning them in the dystopian world. Lauren, the protagonist, who once lived in a small community at the brink of collapse, is forced to travel in the dystopian world after she lost all her family and friends. It is argued in this paper that Butler deliberately takes an embodied narrative strategy which consists in describing the protagonist's lived experience to present a possible apocalyptic future. Walking in the chaotic world in her journey in order to look for a better future, Lauren's moving body undergoes an orgy of violence. The baptism of violence facilitates Lauren's structuring of new subjectivity through the agency generated by her new kinesthetic experience. Violence unfolds her utopian dream to build a community based on her religious belief- Earthseed. While the novel could be read as a dystopian story, its dystopian elements point to ”alternative and better ways of living,” to borrow Krishan Kumar's words.

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