分裂與拼貼：從瑪格麗特．愛特伍德的《蘇珊娜慕迪日記》談加拿大後殖民書寫策略

Collage and Gothic Writing in Margaret Atwood's The Journals of Susanna Moodie

本文擬討論加拿大當代女作家瑪格麗特‧愛特伍德著名詩集《蘇珊娜‧慕迪日記》探究加拿大後殖民文學文化想像與其書寫策略。愛特伍德在加拿大文學界執牛耳，尤其她1972年出版的筆記書《求存》，以主題方式記載呈現加拿大文學，奠定加拿大文學史基礎。而早兩年出版的《蘇珊娜‧慕迪日記》詩集，一共有二十七首敘事詩，分三階段敘述加拿大家喻戶曉的墾殖先民蘇珊娜‧慕迪的故事，重寫／視十九世紀殖民歷史，進而闡釋加拿大墾殖民尋求土地身份認同之困境以及建構後殖民文學主體的錯綜複雜關係。最特別的是，愛特伍德為該詩集寫了一篇〈後言〉，詳述她寫詩動機、場景、設計，並抒發她對加拿大斯土斯民觀感。而這篇〈後言〉常被其他學者專家引述指涉，描繪加拿大文化特色。例如加拿大被認為是移民者的國度，因愛特伍德說：「我們都是這地方的移民，雖然我們都在此出生。」加拿大的文化性格被形容成「偏執的精神分裂」亦是源自愛特伍德這一篇〈後言〉。其實分裂的身份認同或是雙重性格（doubleness）是後殖民文學文化特色，因為後殖民情境中存在強勢殖民者和弱勢本土兩種不同文化體系或價值思維。就如同愛特伍德筆下描述的蘇珊娜‧慕迪自英國遷居北美大陸時，首先遭遇「放逐、尋找、定義『家』」等文化課題，又與新大陸當地文化習俗有衝突，愛特伍德傳神地把這種分裂游離感覺比喻為「身處外國語言系統的文字」。接著因為切不斷與宗主國的臍帶關係，一直無法對這塊新領土產生歸屬感，以致靈魂總處於精神分裂狀態。本文要研究的是愛特伍德書寫後殖民文學想像的策略。故首先闡述並釐清加拿大白人墾殖民文學中的後殖民情境，與第三世界不同，多了不真確性和矛盾的罪惡感。但在求存和去殖民（decolonization）的地方意識抬頭之後，終能說出自己的無力感，驅趕後殖民文學想像，創造屬於加拿大自己的後殖民文本經驗和論述空間。本研究發現愛特伍德的《蘇珊娜‧慕迪日記》採用女性空間書寫策略（非邏輯性思維，拼湊斷裂意象，跨越時空的呈現方式），達到由邊緣擾亂強勢中央的目的。另外，本文要指出愛特伍德書寫加拿大後殖民經驗獨特手法：畫相拼貼與鬼怪書寫。愛特伍德這本由Oxford University Press 出版的詩集，上下封面和插圖共有八幅愛特伍德剪貼相片和水彩畫的拼貼，反白的接合處凸顯墾殖民歷史痕跡。而愛特伍德安排蘇珊娜‧慕迪以鬼魅姿態出現在現代的多倫多街道，挑釁現代文明。這種鬼影晃動，頗能點出當代加拿大仍受挾英美兩大文化經濟霸權國家，居處「受害者地位」（victimized position）。

This paper is a study of the textual strategies used by Margaret Atwood to imbue her poetry with new ideas for Canadian cultural identity. This study focuses on analyzing Atwood's creative use of collaged pictorial illustration and Gothic narrative techniques in her famous poetic series-- The Journals of Susanna Moodie (published in 1970). Atwood's poetic series contains 27 narrative poems, rewriting the most well-known immigrant life story of Susanna Strickland Moodie (1803-1852). In terms of Susanna Moodie's three different stages of settling herself in the Canadian wilderness, Atwood's poetry relates and reexamines the nineteenth century English Canadian settler history. Atwood's writing throws light on Canadian postcolonial imagination as Atwood traces the change-- the growth and development-- in Moodie's response to the land. She moves from her initial alienation to her attitude at the end where, as Atwood explains in the 'Afterword,' 'Susanna Moodie has finally turned herself inside out, and has become the spirit of the land.' This paper contains three parts. Part one intends to explain the postcoloniality conveyed in English Canadian literature. Part Two aims to elucidate Atwood's postcolonial imagination expressed through textual strategies, such as pictorial collages and Gothic narrative. Part Three interprets Atwood's surrealist ending for The Journals of Susanna Moodie-- turning a settler-invader into a patron-spirit of the land-- as a clear indication or Atwood's encouragement to all white Canadians, who should let go the guilty sense resulting from the colonial past and transcend Canadian mentality from the state of victimization.