鬼屋與房奴：〈空地〉與〈事後〉裡的「宅」經濟

Real Assets and Ghostly Liabilities: The Moral Economy of “The Vacant Lot” and “Afterward”

靈異小說裡的鬼屋到了十九世紀末期由家族詛咒的實現場域轉而成為可供自由交易的資產，也因此成為討論資本主義社會中新興道德觀念的媒介。本文受歷史學家哈斯凱爾（Thomas L. Haskell）的資本主義人道關懷論點啟發，主張鬼屋換手代表道德責任可以隨著買賣行為而轉嫁他人，無意中買到鬼屋的屋主也無異於瑕疵產品和黑心商品的買家。鬼屋買賣故事因此成為消費道德風險的寓言。
費里曼（Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman）的〈空地〉（“The Vacant Lot”）和華爾頓（Edith Wharton）的〈事後〉（“Afterward”）是這類鬼故事的早期範例。兩位作家雖然洞察工商社會裡資產與市場對倫理關係的新威脅，卻試圖在作品中保全傳統理性的道德秩序。〈空地〉藉由情節上的巧合安排，讓新任屋主遭遇祖厝中遇害的鬼魂，使隨機消費受害變成冥冥之中自有定數的冤家路窄；而〈事後〉則將鬼屋變成超然的媒介，召喚來的既是尾隨屋主而來的冤魂，屋主承受的也是自己帶來的果報。兩篇小說的敘事邏輯成功與否取決於作家能否解決市場經濟與道德信念的衝突。

By the end of the nineteenth century, haunted houses in ghost stories had turned from inherited curses into marketable property, thus becoming a vehicle for the discussion of new ethical issues in capitalist society. Inspired by the correlation between capitalism and humanitarianism proposed by Tomas L. Haskell, this paper argues that the selling and buying of haunted houses suggests that moral responsibility can be passed on through commerce and buyers of haunted houses soon find themselves the victims of defective goods and tainted products. Stories of haunted house purchases therefore transformed into cautionary tales about the moral risk of underinformed consumption.
“The Vacant Lot” by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman and “Afterward” by Edith Wharton are two early examples of this new type of haunted house stories. However, although the two novelists discerned the changes in moral order brought about by new developments in the market and consumerism, they tried to maintain in their works a rational, causal worldview. Freeman uses coincidences to link the ghosts to the new homeowner’s imperious ancestor, thus hinting that what seems like random victimization is actually a predestined settling of debts. Wharton, on the other hand, presents the haunted house as a detached medium that summons the ghost of the homeowners’ past, so the protagonists are held accountable for their own wrongs.