世紀末的城市魅影：論《恐怖時代》的身體裂變、幻異時空與邊緣敘事

Urban Shadow at the Turn of the Century –Analyzing Time of Terror Based on Bodily Changes,Illusionary Time and Space, and MarginalNarration

袁瓊瓊在八○年代初期以〈自己的天空〉獲得聯合報小說獎，成為備受矚目的臺灣女性書寫開創者，停筆多年後，於1998 年推出《恐怖時代》。文本內容依舊聚焦於城市男女的情愛瑣事，卻與曩昔之作大異其趣，加入「怪誕」元素，藉由大量扭曲變形的身體空間與時空想像，呈現「日常」生活的「非日常化」。透過聖母、賢媛身分的崩解，城市男女情愛轇轕衍生的身體暴力，幻異時空的想像與生存焦慮的勾連，表述舊世紀結束之前，家庭與兩性關係在快速膨脹的城市吞噬下的變異。本文擬以「身體裂變」、「幻異時空」、「邊緣敘事」的切入視角，考掘《恐怖時代》如何以極短篇小說的敘事文體，彷彿玻璃碎片般地映射世紀末光怪陸離的城市變貌，割裂傳統父權文化的線性大敘述史觀，從而揭示個體處於困境的分裂與失序。

Chiung-Chiung Yuan was presented the Literature Award of UnitedDaily News for A Sky of One’s Own in the 1980s, becoming a pioneeramong Taiwanese female writers. Yuan later published the Time ofTerror in 1998 after retiring for several years. The content of the novelremained fixated on the romantic relationships and aspirations of urbandwellers. However, it provided an interesting twist with elements ofgrotesquery, whereby the author illustrated the “irregularities” in“routine” by extensively manipulating and distorting the human form andspatiotemporal imagery. The author completely dismantles the fairimagery of women, vividly illustrates the physical violence derived fromthe love and affection of urban dwellers, and associates illusionary spaceand time with the anxiety of survival to portray the transition of familyand gender relations swallowed by a rapidly expanding city at the turn ofthe century. Based on “bodily changes,” “illusionary space and time,” and“marginal narration,” this study aimed to explore how the author adopteda short-story narrative style to seemingly portray the bizarre changes of acity at the turn of the century through the reflection of shattered glass andtear apart the linear narration of the traditional patriarchal culture, therebyallowing a single human to plainly expose the split and disorder of thedifficulties they face.