有爭議性的農夫：克列夫科的《一個美國農夫的來信》

The Farmer as a Problematic Figure: Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer

出版了兩百三十年之後，克列夫科的《一個美國農夫的來信》依然深植人心。現代批評家卻質疑書中許多隱而不顯的假設。本文首先追溯克列夫科如何受到啟蒙時代主張，尤其是重農主義理念的影響，探討克列夫科對農夫的想法如何挑戰「美洲的退化」的理論，從而促成他的新大陸的願景。本文接著探討以農夫作為代表性的美國人的想法滋生爭議，以至於最後農夫已不是代表性的美國人，而成為有爭議性的人物／意象。

Two hundred and thirty years after its publication, Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer (1782) still grips general readers and literary critics of American literature. Modern critics, however, question many of its implicit assumptions. This paper first traces Crèvecoeur's influence by Enlightenment doctrines, especially physiocratic beliefs, and examines how Crèvecoeur's notion of the farmer challenges the 'American degeneracy' theory and contributes to his New World vision. It then proceeds to explore how the notion of the (freehold) farmer as the representative American creates controversies to such an extent that in the end the farmer ends up not as a representative American but as a problematic figure.