在神性與人性間游移：凱特．歐布萊恩作品裡的異鄉人

Dangling between Deity and Humanity: Exiles in Kate O'Brien's Novels

二十世紀愛爾蘭文學在政治、宗教、文化的多重影響下，傾向探討男性關注的議題，已為八○年代以後之女性主義者所詬病。然而終生創作不懈，作品卻常被查禁的女作家凱特．歐布萊恩（Kate O’Brien），對愛爾蘭父權文化早有深刻的批判。本文將分析歐布萊恩小說中的主人翁，如何穿越國族疆界及性別限制，獲得身心靈的解放，並探究作家如何針砭激進派民族主義與傳統天主教會所掌控的愛爾蘭國家機器。歐布萊恩所質疑的不只是被男性政治人物和神職人員所定義的「愛爾蘭性」（Irishness），並於四○年代時開風氣之先，著手整理女性寫作經驗，與白人男性觀點所構成的西方文學典律相抗衡。她的離鄉經驗開啟了愛爾蘭社會主流與邊緣族群、文學經典內外，及教會與女權主義者的對話空間。

Since the 1980s, feminist Irish critics have been highly critical of the formulation of the Irish literary canon, in that their male peers often address issues that do not particularly concern women's experiences. However, much earlier than the 1980s, Kate O'Brien (1897-1974), a censored Irish woman writer who mostly lived abroad, had written prolifically about her mother country from an exile's viewpoint. Despite being a Catholic, her novels and essays are not indulgent of her fellow countrymen and women, but often expose, unrelentingly, their insularity and the privation of individuality, as well as the oppression of sexualities in a highly puritanical and politicized society. This article will, on the one hand, explore how her protagonists challenge the boundaries of nation and gender in attempting to emancipate their mentalities and bodies. On the other hand, it will examine how O'Brien questions the concept of ＂Irishness,＂ as defined by male politicians and clergy at the time she was writing. Noticeably, her contribution counterbalances the traditional literary canon which has long mirrored male interests. Her exile, most importantly, has initiated a dialogue between the mainstream and minority groups in Irish society, between literary works inside and outside the canon, and between feminists and churchmen.