建立流變的世界：翁達傑的《英倫情人》

Making the World Fluid: Michael Ondaatje's ＂The English Patient＂

本文以德勒茲（Gilles Deleuze）為主要依據，探討翁達傑（MichaelOndaatje）在《英倫情人》裏對界限的態度。書中模糊的時空，人物對物化的抗拒，人物間的相互學習，以及人物改變世界的企圖，在在顯示作者為這個時代劃出一個和平共存的願景。這個新世界仍然有藩籬，但是藩籬低矮不固定，照顧共同的生命，而非區隔、控制生命。英國病人阿爾瑪西（Almásy）是故事裏的主要人物。除了說人物間的關愛與學習，使各自能夠逐漸恢復動物性以外，藉由他跳脫再現的認知能力，他重建戰時的回憶，幫助所有人克服各自的創傷，接受之前所亟欲逃避的物化世界。不論是他回憶的過程或是內容，都顯示出再現的世界並非世界的原貌。在認知能超越再現的同時，人物也同時能避免被物化的危險。種族歧視的痛苦使吉浦（Kip）成為英國病人的最佳繼承人。後者是一個導師；前者從後者學到如何改造世界。

Based mainly on Gilles Deleuze's argument about the virtual and the actual, this paper is centered on Ondaatje's treatment of boundary in The English Patient. Ondaatje envisions a peaceful new world through the implosion of time and space, the characters’ resistance against objectification, the mutual learning among characters, and their efforts to reshape reality. Boundaries still exist in this new world, but they are not fixed. Instead of serving to control life, they facilitate it. While care and mutual learning among characters help all the characters recover their animality, the biggest help comes from the English patient, Almásy. His reconstruction of his past and his ability to transcend representation are crucial. His remembering demonstrates the inability of representation to grasp the real world, and characters overcome objectification when they go beyond representation in their perception of reality. Thus he helps himself and the others get over their sufferings and stop their flight from the society that relies on demarcation. Kip becomes the patient's best successor because of his suffering from racial discrimination. He learns from the patient the way to reshape reality.