恆常與無常：論朱天心〈古都〉中的空間、身體與政治經濟學

Mutability and Immutability: Space, Body, and Political Economy in Tien-Hsin Chu's ＂Ancient Capital＂

在西方有關現代性的批判中，資本主義造成都市空間的變化無常是一個常見的說法。本論文嘗試藉由分析朱天心的〈古都〉，探究作者究竟是以何種批判角度來憑弔九○年代瞬息萬變的台北地景。一方面，作者似乎維繫了從七○年代以降一貫批判基調，企圖以恆常來對抗無常，以七○年代幽靜不變的我家台北來對映九○年代人事皆非的異鄉台北。但事實上，都市空間的恆常vs.無常只是症狀，無法窮盡這篇小說開展出來的批判視野。本文嘗試以勒菲扶爾（Henri Lefebvre）與巴舍拉（Gaston Bachelard）的理論為本，佐以台灣戰後的政治與經濟發展史，闡述在九○年代本土政權與資本主義合流的情況下，「表記空間」遭致「空間表記」的強力壓縮，進而對身為都市公民與外省族群的「你」造成身體在「抽象空間」中的雙重壓抑與退卻，並主張這才是造成七○年代的恆常與九○年代的無常背後的緣由，同時也是作者對九○年代台北都市空間最根本的批判。本文並將透過小說結尾部份的分析，認為對作者而言，比起帶有外省族群身份認同的身體，都市公民的身體可能是一個更難解決，也是一個必須優先處理的問題。

Critics of urban modernity argue that capitalism plunges the modern cityscape into unprecedented and irrevocable transformation. In ＂The Ancient Capital,＂ however, the author's portrayal of 1970s Taipei as a virtually immutable space by no means suggests that the progress of capitalism is supposed to be stunted at that time. Rather, it is the unbridled expansion of the ＂representational space＂-the space immediately ＂lived＂ by the dweller's body-that makes the cityscape appear changeless. The situation takes a turn for the worse and the private Arcadia eventually collapses as the indigenous regime teams up with capitalism in the 1990s, with the result that the ＂representation of space＂ wins wholesale victory over the ＂representational space.＂ With the shrinkage of the ＂representational space,＂ the dweller's body is doubly suppressed insofar as the immobilized urban citizen in question is also a second-generation mainlander. As the denouement of ＂The Ancient Capital＂ suggests, for the city dweller's elbow room to expand when ＂representational space＂ keeps diminishing, the body of the urban citizen is the crux of the matter and should be put higher on the agenda than the body as the bearer of any specific ethnic identity.