「只不過是場災難，放輕鬆！」：麥克尤恩《日光》中氣候變遷的探問

“It’s a Catastrophe. Relax!”: The Question Concerning Climate Change in Ian McEwan’s Solar

本文探討英國當代作家麥克尤恩在《日光》採取的論述策略，有別於過往書寫氣候變遷慣用的科幻小說或是自傳書寫，麥克尤恩開創出一條不同的書寫路徑，批判力道更為深沈，而且問題直指核心的倫理衝突。麥克尤恩慣於將歷史事件融入故事場景，透過召喚過往的全球性危機與創傷記憶，麥克尤恩將近代發生許多讀者記憶猶新的事件串接到未來的想像情境，藉由書寫氣候變遷，小說家引渡歷史記憶進而挖掘暖化議題的倫理面向。作家書寫與故事主軸看似無關的重大危機與衝突事件，營造過去就在當下而未來即是過去的共時性想像，歷史的衝突不再顯得遙遠，集體的創傷記憶也不再只是殘留於歷史過往的孤立事件，而是與氣候變遷引發的倫理風暴緊密連結，在召喚集體回憶（remembering）的同時，也將之重組 （re-membering）並賦予新意。本文申論面對氣候變遷的困局不在於抉擇過什麼樣的生活，而是在於自認為有所抉擇的優越心態。氣候變遷困境所揭示的，是人類自認萬物皆為所用的現代性框限，是挑戰當下社會情境的正當性，也是針對自然環境步向他者化最深刻的批判。

The present article explores the narrative strategy in Solar in its distinctionfrom previous approaches favored by sic-fi and autobiographical writingson climate change. By creating a prototypal anti-hero, McEwan takes analternative route in depicting the ethical dilemma under the threat of climatechange.This article makes the case that in remembering past events of destructionand confrontation and in reassembling collective memories in a personalway, McEwan extradites environmental issues into ethical concerns. McEwanjustifies the legitimacy of writing trauma in terms of environmentalized practicesof past conflicts, the familiarization of the collective identity of lifecommunity, and the projection of collective memories of past traumas onto asense of urgency at the moment of apocalypse. It is not the experience but theanticipation of risk that displays the calculable uncertainty of climate changethat rationalizes the otherization of the environment and the normalizationof risk. As the enframing of modern technology is presented and transformedinto the revealing of human dominance over nature, an inner contradictionof the progress mentality is held in paradox. As human beings indulge in thewealth and comfort accumulated from the exploitation of nature, no resolutionis possible but to continue the momentum of production, consumption andwaste that happen to be the cause of current problem of climate change.