Second Generation Immigrants and Diasporic Intimacy in Jhumpa Lahiri's "Hema and Kaushik" Trilogy

鍾芭‧拉希莉〈海瑪與卡西克〉三部曲中的第二代移民與離散親密

龔紹明(Shao-Ming Kung)

鍾芭‧拉希莉 ； 〈海瑪與卡西克〉三部曲 ； 第二代移民 ； 離散親密 ； 斯維特蘭娜‧博伊姆 ； 友善接納 ； Jhumpa Lahiri ； "Hema and Kaushik" trilogy ； second generation immigrants ； diasporic intimacy ； Svetlana Boym ； hospitality

小說與戲劇

22卷1期（2012 / 12 / 01）

147 - 177

英文

本論文擬探討鍾芭‧拉希莉〈海瑪與卡西克〉三部曲中的南亞裔美國第二代移民，如何藉由日常生活實踐與其他親密的友善接納形式，來獲致情感上的認屬與連結。筆者以斯維特蘭娜‧博伊姆（Svetlana Boym）的離散親密理論為基礎，聚焦在文本中的重要親密場景與時刻，來討論拉希莉的離散主體如何以「同代之間的親密」（intra-generational intimacies），來協商其在新土地上的認同危機。本文首先探究離散親密如何起於海瑪與卡西克母親之間的親密友誼，乃至延續到兩位主角年少時的情感關係。論文第二部份探討飲食實踐、短暫旅行、友善引導等促進主與客、兄與妹、子女與雙親之間的親密鏈結。本文以為，這些看似微細又平庸的日常行動，卻使喪失母親／母國的卡西克，尋回與新家族成員的情感繫連。論文第三部份側重分析成年時的海瑪與卡西克在羅馬開展的濃烈情感。筆者以文本中兩幕的親密場景為例，藉此論證離散主體如何在新世界中重新發現文化上、情感上的認屬，進而培植其新的主體性。本文結論指出，正是離散親密的情動力，使拉希莉的第二代移民得以在陌生的土地上，找到新的路徑紮根茁壯。

This paper attempts to investigate how second generation South Asian Americans seek emotional affiliation and attachment through everyday practices and other intimate gestures of hospitality in Jhumpa Lahiri's ”Hema and Kaushik” trilogy. Focusing on key scenes and moments of diasporic intimacy as theorized by Svetlana Boym, I argue that Lahiri's diasporic subjects establish a sort of ”intra-generational intimacies” to negotiate their identity crisis in the new soil. The first part of my article seeks to explore how diasporic intimacy is built in the intimate friendship of Hema's and Kaushik's mothers and then in the affectionate kinship between the two protagonists during their adolescence. Then, in the second section, my study will investigate how culinary practice, short tours, and hospital guidance promote the possibility of establishing intimate bond between host and guest, brother and sister, son and parents. These small, albeit mundane, activities, I contend, retrieve Kaushik's emotional tie with his new family members since his traumatic loss of motherhood/motherland. In the third part I will look at the intense affection of the adult Kaushik and Hema in Rome. Two scenes of intimacy will corroborate my argument that both diasporic subjects rediscover cultural and emotional affiliation and transplant their new found subjectivities on foreign soils. I conclude my discussion by suggesting that it is the affective force of diasporic intimacy that allows Lahiri's second generation immigrants to seek and strike new roots/routes in the strange land.

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