移位的「原鄉」：喬伊斯．開芮的非洲小說

“Home” Displaced: Joyce Cary's African Novels

喬伊斯‧開芮一向被視為抱持人道主義理想的英國小說家。後殖民論述興起後，學者屢將其非洲小說賦予帝國主義色彩，或將之納入泛歐化非洲小說傳承。這種讀法固然有其政治考量，但卻壓抑開芮獨特的盎格魯──愛爾蘭身份認同，其結果難免流於泛政治化。有鑑於此，本文將開芮的《艾伊莎得救記》、《美國訪客》、《非洲女巫》以及《江聲先生〉作品置回愛爾蘭文化情境，以探討其書寫非洲的意圖。開芮筆下的非洲，是危機伺伏的殖民空間，其衝突源自於英國殖民統治的內部矛盾與本土文化對外來影響的強悍抵禦。這種衝突的導火線，往往是西化的非洲人。他們和開芮一樣，在擺盪於英國本質和本土特質之餘，追尋難以企及的解放和自由。透過這種非純種的非洲形象，開芮企圖將非洲類比為失勢的愛爾蘭，以建構他心目中自由主義的英國與孩童式的愛爾蘭之複合國族身份認同，並在為這種邊緣人請命之餘，暴露英國殖民統治的內在矛盾與殖民空間的問題。他晚期作品中的深宅，在種種不可抗力的催引之下，再也無法成為孩童安身立命之所，正如同開芮自己在愛爾蘭邁向獨立的康莊大道之際，卻被迫流放到英國。他的深宅「原鄉」雖已喪失，以英國為「原鄉」也是不得已的選擇，而最原初的那個「原鄉」，卻藉由書寫殖民非洲置回。

Joyce Cary used to be considered as an English writer of humanist inclination. With the rise of postcolonialism, his writing was either endowed with an imperialist touch, or included in the trans-European tradition of African novels. Such readings politicize Cary's texts at the risk of suppressing his Anglo-Irish identity. In consideration of this methodological gap, the present paper restores to their Irish context Cary's An American Visitor, Aissa Saved, The African Witch, and Mister Johnson, in order to uncover his agenda for writing Africa. Cary's Africa is a colonial space in jeopardy, with the internal conflict of English rule intertwined with native resistance to colonial power. This jeopardy is almost always triggered by westernized Africans. Like Cary, they pursue unattainable liberation and freedom while wavering between Englishness and nativism. Through this hybrid African image, Cary attempts to draw an analogy between Africa and the dis-empowered Ireland and to construct a hyphenated national identity of English liberalism and Irish innocence. As he pleads for this marginal identity, Cary also reveals the problems within imperial rule over the colony. Under external forces the Big House in Cary's later works can barely accommodate the children, much as Cary had to put himself into exile to England while Ireland became an independent nation. Through writing Africa Cary manages to restore his primal 'home' although his real home was lost, and his choice of England as his home was barely an option.