布萊恩•傅利爾的《凱絲•麥克吉爾的愛情故事》：家的空間政治、性別與愛爾蘭離散

Gender, the Irish Diaspora and the Spatial Politics of Home in Brian Friel’s The Loves of Cass McGuire

在愛爾蘭劇作家布萊恩‧傅利爾的劇作《凱絲‧麥克吉爾的愛情故事》（1966）中，女主角凱絲結束了長達五十二年於紐約的寓居生活並選擇回歸故里，但在重返愛爾蘭與家人團聚不久之後卻陷入他鄉實非故鄉、家鄉卻是異鄉的困境。在其超過半世紀的創作生涯中，傅利爾（1929-2015）向來擅長針貶愛爾蘭的歷史問題與文化僵局，而這齣發表於生涯早期的戲劇作品則顯示出他對愛爾蘭離散議題的介入與批判。《凱絲‧麥克吉爾的愛情故事》關注愛爾蘭女性的離散經歷，並特別著重再現愛爾蘭女性離家後返家卻面臨鄉關何處的窘境。換言之，傅利爾在處理愛爾蘭離散的議題時，不僅聚焦在愛爾蘭獨立建國前後年輕女性跨國遷徙的問題，同時也著重探討愛爾蘭女性與不同時空下的家之間剪不斷理還亂的複雜關係。

In this paper, I aim to explore the ways in which Brian Friel, in representing the Irish diaspora through the individual experiences of Cass in The Loves of Cass McGuire (1966), addresses the spatial issues of the diasporic experiences of Irish women, especially the home of displacement in Ireland and the home of placement outside Ireland. Two versions and conceptualizations of home embodied respectively by the Irish patriarch at home and the migrant woman away from home confront with each other upon the return migration of the latter in this play. Therefore, The Loves of Cass McGuire stages intricate negotiations between the nationalized imaginary of home and the gendered identity of Irish women. Furthermore, as shown in this play, home not only is a private haven of homeliness but also becomes a public site of political contestation and identity formation. An unhomely/uncanny presence, returned women migrants, like Cass, eventually lapse into physical, psychological and social homelessness, and are forced to construct a homely home of their own away from the home of origin.