Corinne's Tarantella: Germaine de Staël's Performance of Cultural Authority

蔻瑞的塔朗泰拉舞：史黛夫人表演文化權威

Germaine de Staël's major novel, Corinne or Italy (1807), takes the form of a Grand Tour guidebook, spiced with the dynamism of a roman à clef, and eventually transcends both formulae. It chronicles the romance between Corinne, half-Italian and half-English, and her Scottish suitor, Lord Nelvil Oswald. Corinne hopes to cement their relationship not only by showing Oswald places of cultural interests but more importantly by representing their splendors despite the contemporary political chaos of Italy. Her endeavor reaches its climax with the performance of ancient Neapolitan dance, the Tarantella. This paper seeks to delineate how the Tarantella showcases the ways in which de Staël garners insights from the national dance craze and the emerging modern archaeology to articulate knowledge embodied in situ and performed in the present. The Tarantella, with its sacred efficacy and secular cohesiveness, allows Corinne to inhabit her adopted culture. In the end, de Staël ensures authority for Corinne by bypassing the controversial performer of''attitudes,'' Emma Hamilton, and by associating Corinne with her confidante, the salonnière Juliette Récamier. De Staël exploits the subversive potentials of the Tarantella and revitalizes the ancient unity of word, music and the body in order to stage her performance of cultural authority.

史黛夫人著名的小說《蔻瑞，義大利》（1807）在十九世紀的法國國家圖書館歸類為旅遊指南。這個通俗的類別其實點出小說的中心母題，即以義英混血的蔻瑞與蘇格蘭爵士奧斯渥．納維爾之間的戀情為基礎，目的是推崇義大利的古典文化。蔻瑞希望藉由介紹義大利歷史文物、且體現其文化精華，來消解奧斯渥對當時混亂的義大利所抱持的宗教與政治偏見，以求凝聚他們的情感。蔻瑞在拿波里表演的塔朗泰拉舞是她所有努力的高潮。本論文企圖描述史黛夫人如何從民族舞蹈風潮與考古學的新重點，發展出她對歷史的兩大詮釋方向：「在場的知識」（knowledge in situ）與「即時表演」（performance in the present）。塔朗泰拉舞，因其神聖的效能與世俗的凝聚力，促使蔻瑞能充分活出她所認同的文化。最終，史黛夫人跳脫當代頗具爭議的英國駐拿波里大使夫人艾瑪‧漢繆登（Emma Hamilton），轉向巴黎沙龍女主人茱麗葉‧瑞佳米耶（Juliette Récamier），作為蔻瑞的最佳模範，為她的主人翁熔鑄文化權威。本論文依據小說的結構，發展出稜鏡式的四重檢視方向：神聖與世俗、在場考古學與即時表演、艾瑪、與茱麗葉。這四重稜鏡帶領我們進一步了解，史黛夫人對拿破崙帝國新秩序所作的質疑與挑戰。