摩登生活的漫畫及其「無-意義」：郭建英與上海新感覺派 (1927-1935)

Abstract

在波特萊爾〈現代生活的畫家〉一文開展出的美學現代性問題序列中，上海新感覺派是過去研究者經常思索中國現代性的主要對象之一，但在以漫遊者或浪蕩子進行分析之後，傅柯所言之反諷的現代性態度卻少有論及，另類態度的出現亦所難見。2001年以後上海新感覺派的邊緣人物郭建英的漫畫重新出土，而筆者近年來往返上海尋找郭建英作品史料的過程中，發掘出他更多的漫畫創作與小說編寫作品，其中筆者認為郭建英所提出的Nonsense，可以作為理解中文語境下現代性之特殊版本的論述核心，使得以同樣問題意識接續上海新感覺派的研究得以進一步開展。

要重新理解郭建英與上海新感覺派之關係的原因也在於此，因為郭建英不單只是運用畫筆、並對上海新感覺派作品進行插圖式補充的畫家，他是翻譯日本新感覺派健將橫光利一的主要中譯者。而郭建英也不算是全然的新感覺派作者，筆者發現，在1930年後，他的漫畫與《婦人畫報》編輯皆顯示出他對日本Nonsense文學編、譯、繪、寫的用心，有意在新感覺派的基礎上開闢出更細緻的文學路徑。故，本論文的論述架構是先去理解郭建英的作品在哪些意義上與上海新感覺派旨趣相通，而共同面臨了甚麼樣的內部限制與外部批評。繼之，則探討郭建英後續翻譯日本Nonsense文學者作品並在上海境內開闢出諸多Nonsense掌篇小說的特色為何？以此我們才可以更為清楚理解並且釐清他與當時的新感覺派以及左翼內容論者的內在差距。最後，再整體地梳理郭建英這在上海橫跨9年、漫畫作品逾500幅的創作歷程中內在的關鍵轉折與Nonsense漫畫本身的嶄新層次。

筆者將在本論文中指出，郭建英的作品援用了劉吶鷗的Erotic，指涉出的置身於「物之羅列」中肉感書寫之可能，但因其「無-意義」而不被囿限於主觀感覺的相對位置之中；並且，此一「無-意義」在施蟄存Grotesque所提供的視覺轉型空間中，亦不會落入攻擊性嘲笑的滑稽(Comic)，而能保持著Grotesque的怪異感受。「無-意義」本身的特性，是「沒有內容」之Nonsense文學相較於「內容論」的實質訴求，更產生出能抹銷原內容意義指定之形式優先特質。而這種形式，到了郭建英的漫畫這裡，我們將很難單純地將女子無知、愛美或頹廢等氣質之「反諷」，或負面意義上的「沒有內容」歸併於郭建英對Nonsense的使用之中，反而，郭建英所指的更接近一種新的情感樣態，確切的來說，即是從摩登生活的瑣碎事端和情感相互性之中所體現出來的幽默。

郭建英以他自創的「摩登」=「無-意義」=「幽默」系列等式，提出了一種另類現代性。即，「無-意義」既非漫遊者式的「肉感」或浪蕩子的「禁慾」，亦非單只是現代詩人對生活的自嘲與反諷，而是摩登生活的畫家利用幽默的被能動性(passive activity)，反向地對社會進行批判。

In the past decades, researchers have often identified similar problematics of aesthetic modernity which Baudelaire had indicated in his article “The Painter of Life” to analyze the flâneur and dandy aspects of Shanghai Neo-sensualism. Yet, the ironic attitude of modernity which Foucault emphasized has not been reflected in these studies. After my general analysis of the works of Guo Jianying who participated in the translating, editing and painting in the context of Neo-sensualism, I think there is plenty of new material about Nonsense that will allow us to have a broader discussion on the ironic and other/alternative aspects of interpreting modern Shanghai.

The main reason I choose to differentiate between Guo and Shanghai Neo-sensualism is that Guo is not simply the illustrator of the latter, but the keen translator of Yokomitsu Riichi and the major essayists of modern life which Neo-sensualism also depicts. After 1930, Guo even created a new route from within, not only translating novels of Japan Nonsense literature, but also editing new authors in the Chinese register. In the thesis, firstly I analyze the shared project of both Guo and the Neo-sensualists, and the shared strategy which they used to confront the critics’ negative valuations. Secondly, by presenting the main characteristics of the Nonsense novel genre from overseas to China, it will be clear how Guo’s works keep a distance among Neo-sensualist and Leftist writings. Lastly, based on former analysis, I choose the representative painting of Guo’s visual works, from western sense of beauty to the Shanghainese modern version, and sort them through the levels of the erotic, the grotesque and the nonsensical.

The main argument of my thesis is that Guo’s work shared the flâneuric erotic interest of Liu Na’Ou, to settle a modern subject in materialistic writing, but Guo’s Nonsense creation introduced an ironic aspect in this common project . Also, this Nonsense is not a sarcastic effect of the comical , but a grotesque event. Hence, Nonsense indicates the ‘No-content’ responding to the leftist theory about life as true content prioritized in art and literature. Nonsense provides a means to formally think about what is no-sense(meaning/direction), this no-sense is not the negative attribution of the modern girl, but a new kind of affective relation of modern life of triviality and contingency.

In Guo’s own series of identification: Modern=Nonsense=Humor, behind this thinking, what the painter of the modern life provides is the idea of aesthetic modernity as the critical practice. It is not the erotic of the flâneur or the monastic and ironic of the dandy, but rather the nonsensical: a passive activity of humor.