城市漫遊者及「我－們」的「本土」：重讀西西《我城》

The Flâneur/ Flâneuse and the Multiple “I”s of the “Local” in Xi Xi’s I City

於70年代中期，西西的《我城》已經成為香港文學的經典。然而，對於《我城》的研究歷時既久，論述的焦點多年來亦經歷了不少變化，尤其在九七前後，論者明顯的由語言、結構等美學問題轉向對「本土」議題的關注。本文延續有關的思考，卻希望提出「集體認同」以外的方向，來理解《我城》所想像的「本土」。

Since its publication in the mid-1970s, Xi Xi’s novel I City has become a classic of Hong Kong literature. The scholarly focus on the novel has altered over the years; since 1997, there has been an especially marked shift away from aesthetic concerns, such as language and structure, and towards a discussion of the “local.” This article continues that discussion, but proposes interpretations of the local that go beyond notions of collective identity. The “I” in I City is often understood as a collective “we,” and the optimistic tone and vision of the novel are generally regarded as reflections of the social conditions and political reforms experienced under the British Hong Kong Government of the 1970s. This paper argues, in contrast, that I City hints at the concept of a fluid and ever-changing “local” by deconstructing a linear and continuous historical imagination. This is evident not only in the novel’s representation of the social movements and refugee problem of the 1970s, but also in the image of the flâneur/ flâneuse, which implies their detachment from the capitalist city in which they live, as well as their rejection of the ideology of the family and nation-state. Given Jean-Luc Nancy’s notion of community, the collective “we” may be understood as “singularly plural.” I also argue that the flâneur/ flâneuse participate in the creation of the “local” through their everyday practice instead of submitting themselves to a collective identity.