從美學、政治到非裔美國表現文化：雷夫•艾利森《隱形人》批評之批判

Abstract

本文主旨在討論艾利森的《隱形人》與非裔美國表現文化之間的連結，並以此為主軸回應六０年代黑人美學中傳承自哈林文藝復興以來美學與政治的難題。藝術與抗議是非裔美國文學史中的重要議題，牽涉到黑人寫作的美學目的和政治目的。本文首先以堯斯(Hans Robert Jauss)的美學接受理論(reception theory)來定義艾利森作為一名強調讀者角色的「生命世界現代主義作家」(life-world modernist)。從現代主義作家，到表意的現代主義作家(signifying modernist)，本文提出生命世界現代主義作家不標榜為藝術而藝術，而將藝術釋交給普通讀者，這就是艾利森眼中非裔美國表現文化的特色之一。在此同時，本文也集中評析赫歐(Irving Howe)、倪爾(Larry Neal)與蓋爾(Addison Gayle)三位批評家對《隱形人》的負面批評說明他們的政治意圖掩蓋了《隱形人》中的「不明事物的諸形式」(the forms of things unknown)，也就是非裔美國表現文化，而其正是艾利森不願將《隱形人》化約為抗議文學(protest writing)的首要因素。本文最後以分析《隱形人》來強調艾利森透過他自身所經驗的表現文化形式在小說中體現了黑人獨特的生命世界，也抗拒了美學與政治對非裔美國表現文化的物質化(materialize)。對艾利森而言，書寫的目的在於向讀者訴說對生命世界的經驗本身，而非為藝術或為抗議。以非裔美國表現文化回歸黑人的生命世界，《隱形人》跨越了六０年代黑人美學中美學與政治的二元對立。

This thesis mainly discusses the linkage between Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Afro-American expression to explore the aporia of aesthetics and politics in the Black Aesthetic of the 1960s since the Harlem renaissance. Art and protest in the history of Afro-American literature is an inherent issue, and it engages the aesthetic goal and political goal for the black writers. On the one hand, Ellison is defined as a “life-world modernist” who emphasizes the role of the reader in a sense of Hans Robert Jauss’s reception theory in this thesis. From a modernist, a signifying modernist to a life-world modernist, Ellison does not recognize the label of art for art’s sake. Instead, he releases the work of art to the common readers. This is one of the features of Afro-American expressive culture in Ellison’s sense. On the other hand, I situate the negative criticisms on Invisible Man, particularly that of Irving Howe, Larry Neal, and Addison Gayle, to show that their political aims make them ignore “the forms of things unknown,” the Afro-American expression. Reasonably, Ellison disregards the novel as a piece of protest writing due to Afro-American expression. The final part is the textual analysis of Invisible Man. Through his personal experience, Ellison carries the life-world of the black people with writing and de-materializes the Afro-American expression which is based on art and protest. From this point of view, Invisible Man leads the readers to perceive the experience of experiencing of the life-world and escape the binarism of aesthetics and politics in the Black Aesthetic during the 1960s.