幻設轉向：「千禧年」之「喻」

The Speculative Turn: Parables for the Millennium

這篇論文處理兩部未完結的小說系列。一部是廣受好評的非裔美籍科幻小說家奧克塔維婭‧巴特勒的《地球之種》，又稱《比喻》系列。另一部是瑞典記者史迪格‧拉森的《千禧年》系列，亦即全球暢銷的《龍紋身的女孩》系列小說。我將指出這兩部系列將女主角被賦權或奪權的敘事，連結到法西斯白人至上主義的歷史軌跡，揭示了自由西方世界的概念究竟為何。這些未完結的系列作中的旁若文學元素，讓故事整體得以破除新自由主義的現世所幻設的未來，以及冷戰結構下自由主義世界所幻設的過往。因此，這兩部系列標誌了我認為在當代文化生產與評論中出現的「幻設轉向」。我認為，這兩部系列針對近來被視為轉型典範的國族國家（nation-state）體制，具有相當的批判性；兩部並讀也突顯出幻設轉向橫跨了既有學術界域及地緣政治的性質。

This paper is a reading of two novel series: the Earthseed series, also known as the Parable novels, by Octavia Butler, a critically acclaimed African American science fiction novelist, and the Millennium series, aka the globally bestselling Girl with the Dragon Tattoo novels, by the Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson. I argue that both series unpack the idea of the liberal West by connecting narratives of dis/empowerment for female protagonists to the historical trajectories of fascistic white supremacism and racial capitalism. The para-literary elements of these arguably unresolved texts allow the narratives to unravel speculative futures for neoliberal presents and speculative pasts for the Cold War construction of the liberal. In this sense, both texts are emblematic of what I call a “speculative turn” in contemporary cultural production and criticism. I consider the two series as critical texts from nation-states that have been considered exemplary transitional models; reading them together shows how the speculative turn itself is formed across existing disciplines and geopolitical sites.