「超感生的表面」　梅爾維爾《皮耶》中的感官書寫

Superinduced Superficies Writing of the Sensual in Melville's Pierre

迪立美國十九世紀早期隨著出版的自由和在印刷技術、書籍運銷的改進，見證了各種顛覆性流行文學的充斥，如濫情（sensational）、犯罪（criminal）、浪漫冒險（Romance-adventure）、偽科學相關的文學。這些極端民主化（radical-democrat）的作品透過非理性的情節來暴露當時美國社會背離了共和國的理想。學者大衛•雷諾斯（David S. Reynolds）就認為，主要作家如艾德格•愛倫坡（Edgar Allen Poe）、納森尼爾•霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne）、赫爾曼•梅爾維爾（Herman Melville）等等，卻對這類文學採取懷疑的態度，並以不同的方式批評或諷刺這些流行文學中改革思想的矛盾性與弔詭性。
梅爾維爾《皮耶》（Pierre, 1852）中的主角皮耶的經歷可說是十九世紀美國一個年輕作家的感官歷史。故事結合了傷感、煽情、浪漫旅行敘事，並充斥各種「曖昧」的愛情與親情關係，以及各種感官經驗的誇張描寫，除了造成流動的主體性之外，也解構了當時的超越論思想（transcendentalism）中感官的階級性。然而，小說中也強調感官書寫的侷限性。對梅爾維爾來說，感官的書寫並無法完全透視描寫對象的「不可知性」（inscrutableness）。此外，世界即「超感生的表面」，而其背後即虛無。而此虛無即體現在皮耶最後喪失感官功能，導致感官的錯亂，而步入了自我滅亡的悲劇；也就是說，極端矛盾的感官經驗最後可能導致主體陷入空無的深淵而無法自拔。羅在《墜落人》中，藉由九一一的恐怖攻擊事件的書寫，展現了另一種寫作的可能和生命認知。迪立羅沒有落入完全以語言為主的後現代思維，而是將此一事件所帶來的衝擊當作他寫作的另一個起始點。這樣的書寫沒有預設任何的概念或論述－除了真實的恐怖攻擊，因而整個故事都籠罩著一種不確定和不安的氛圍。事件所引發的這些身體感受和覺知，不再能套入舊有的認知模式中，而是以一種超乎理解的方式出現，不斷地透過身體感知更新甚至翻轉。重要的是，迪立羅在《墜落人》中，以九一一事件為背景，以身體為書寫的主軸，所要呈現的已不再是一個歷史樣貌的回溯或還原，而是事件背後，身體覺知所提供的書寫可能及對生命的另類檢視。

During the early nineteenth century, especially since 1830s, with the rise of free press and the improvement of printing technology and book sales, the era witnessed the proliferation of popular subversive literature, including sensational, criminal, Romance-adventure, pseudo-scientific literature. These ”radical-democrat” works employ irrational plots and themes to expose how the republic deviates from the ideals of the founded nation. But major writers, such as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville, problematize in various ways the ambiguity and paradox of reform spirit embedded in these popular literature.
In Melville's Pierre: or its Ambiguity (1852), Pierre's experience can be regarded as the history of a young author who writes sensational literature during the nineteenth century. The novel consists of sentimental, sensational, romance-adventure elements filled with various deviated, ambiguous relationships, and exaggerated descriptions of sensual experiences. The writing of these sensual experiences not only constructs the fluid subjectivity, but also subverts the transcendentalist thought that privileges the power of sight. Despite this, the novel also points out the limitations of sensual writing because it can never penetrate the ”inscrutableness” of represented objects. For Melville, the world consists of ”superinduced superficies”; and behind them is just void. This pessimism is manifested when Pierre, in order to write a ”great book,” suffers from the derangement of senses that finally result in his tragic self-destruction. In other words, radical sensual experiences may cause the subject to fall into the abyss of the void.