難言之隱：薛摩斯．狄因《在黑暗中閱讀》裏的羞恥

Unspeakable Secrets: Shame in Seamus Deane's ＂Reading in the Dark＂

本文以尼可拉斯．阿布拉罕（Nicolas Abraham）和瑪莉亞．妥洛克（Maria Torok）的理論，分三部分探討薛摩斯．狄因（Seamus Deane）小說《在黑暗中閱讀》（Reading in the Dark）中的羞恥。第一部分從「幽魂」之說出發，交叉閱讀敘事者的家族祕密與北愛爾蘭天主教族群創傷。第二部分則援引「跨世代幽魂」概念，探討敘事者如何力圖拼湊父母的創傷記憶，卻不由自主地步上他們摯愛的後塵，成為背叛者。第三部分分析敘事者試圖呈現父母的祕密，卻遭遇倫理難題，致使親子關係疏離，只得選擇對母親輸誠、背叛父親，以維持父母的關係。末了，筆者從小說書名的多重意涵思考本書的意義。

Adopting Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok's theory, this tri-part essay explores one of the dominant emotions portrayed in Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark-shame. Part one engages Abraham and Torok's notion of ＂the phantom＂ to interpret the narrator's family secret and the collective trauma of Catholic minorities in Northern Ireland. Part two is devoted to the narrator's attempt to construct his parents' traumatic memories and its subsequent pitfalls, through Abraham and Torok's category of ＂the transgenerational phantom.＂ Part three deals with the narrator's ethical dilemma as he tries to disclose his parents' secrets. In conclusion, this author ponders the significance of this novel by examining the title's multi-layered meaning.