《歐魯諾柯》與《拉克倫城堡》中的地域與階級

Region and Class Oroonoko and Castle Rackernt

本文試圖探討十七；十八世紀兩本英國小說中地域與階級的關係。所採用文本為班恩之《歐魯諾柯》與艾齊沃斯的《拉克倫城堡》班恩以非洲與南美洲為場景呈現一個非洲王子的慘痛經歷，並且說明在他的遭遇與轉變中地域與階級所扮演的角色。而艾齊沃斯則以愛爾蘭為背景來闡釋英國統治者與愛爾蘭被統治者之間因地域與階級不同所產生的種種衝擊。這兩本小說中原本複雜的地域與階級關係更因敘述者的特殊身份而產生更多的糾葛。《歐魯諾柯》以一位英國女子的觀點來訴說一個黑奴的故事：《拉克倫城堡》則是由一個愛爾蘭老管家的眼光道出四個英國統治者的興衰。此種因敘述角度的差異而使小說中的地域與階級更加錯綜複雜的關係正是本文試圖探索的議題。

This article attempts to explore the interrelationships of region and class in two English novels of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The texts used for discussion are Aphra Behn's Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave (1688) and Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent: An Hibernian Tale (1800). Behn uses Africa and South America to unfold the grisly tale of a black prince/ slave and to build up the relation of region and class to Oroonoko's life and transformation. Edgeworth sets the scene in Ireland to illustrate various kinds of tension between the ruling Anglo-Irish and the Irish. Moreover, Oroonoko is told from the perspective of an observant English woman whereas an old Irish Steward's point of view is used to trace the rise and fall of his four Anglo-Irish masters in Castle Rackrent. These intriguing relationships of region and class, as complicated more by peculiar narrative stance, are dealt with thoroughly in this article.