Epistolary Interior and Figures of Waste in Pamela

《潘蜜拉》的書信內緣與廢棄形態

10.6271/fd.2014.24.1.05

陳皇華(Huang-Hua Chen)

書信體 ； 《潘蜜拉》 ； 薩繆爾．李察森 ； 踰越 ； 十八世紀 ； epistolarity ； Pamela ； Samuel Richardson ； excess ； eighteenth century

小說與戲劇

24卷1期（2014 / 12 / 01）

133 - 157

英文

本文試圖從書信體例（epistolarity）的角度出發，來探討十八世紀書信體小說（尤其是《潘蜜拉》）在擬真之餘，在印刷以及書信上的編排常常有著溢於言表之處，以至於產生許多文本之中無法化約的剩餘之物。這並非只是李察森單方面的利用印刷排版所延續或模擬出的真實；對於李察森而言，書信體例中所含括的無法化約之物，一再的以踰越以及雙重性的特性躍然紙上，就可以是一種真實的體現。在李察森的書信邏輯中，書信不再只是為了表達內心之舉的單純，取而代之的是透過書信中種種遺棄與廢棄的描繪，所點出的一種無用的、廢棄的書信內在性。因為這樣對於十八世紀書信體的認知，我們可以重讀李察森為了呈現潘蜜拉的踰越之舉，所刻意編排過的書信內在，更可以看到十八世紀對於書信真實的反思。

In this paper, I argue that while the epistolary novel focuses on the mimesis of letter writing and epistolary verisimilitude, it necessarily exceeds its own functions and produces a certain form of textual waste. In Pamela this is not a one-way traffic, whereby Richardson uses typography simply to perpetuate or imitate reality in the second order. Instead, I suggest that for Richardson the epistolary form can be a kind of reality, revealing a kind of awareness of excess and doubleness that are embedded in the margin of letters and the figures of waste. Pamela's popularity therefore suggests that various epistolary excesses in Pamela are no mere idiosyncratic arrangement of the letters' formal qualities, but are evidence of a larger cultural suspicion toward material functionalities.

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